Utah has company in No Child battle

Utah's challenge of No Child Left Behind's reach into public schools is in increasingly good company, a report released Wednesday shows.

All but three states are "in some stage of rebellion against NCLB," in ways that include seeking waivers, considering lawsuits and, in the case of some Illinois school districts, leaving federal money behind rather than deal with what they call NCLB's rigid requirements, according to the NCLBgrassroots.org report "NCLB Left Behind: Understanding the Growing Grassroots Rebellion Against a Controversial Law."

Utah is joined by six other states — Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, New Mexico and Virginia — whose legislatures have passed resolutions critical of NCLB. Fifteen states weighed legislation to opt out of NCLB.

Rebellion is expected to flare up in Minnesota, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey and Virginia this school year, the report states.

The report was released in a teleconference sponsored by the Civil Society Institute — NCLBgrassroots.org is its project — of Newton, Mass. The institute aims to serve as a catalyst for change through problem-solving interactions among people, communities, government and business.

NCLB is a federal law largely aimed at closing the achievement gap between whites and students of color, the haves and have-nots, by making schools publicize how every group of students performs on state-selected tests.

All groups in every school must progress toward state academic goals, or the school is flagged as not up to snuff. Low-income schools getting Title I federal funds face sanctions, which include allowing students to transfer to higher-performing schools and district-paid tutoring, for repeatedly missing the mark.

Many state and education leaders say the law is unrealistically strict. Some, including Laredo, Texas, Independent School District Assistant Superintendent of Schools Sylvia Bruni, say the law contributes to high dropout rates — about half of ethnic minority students there drop out — and employer complaints that high school graduates are poor communicators and weak critical thinkers.

"The culprit, in our opinion, is that high-stakes test that's been driving Texas curriculum for over 20 years," Bruni said. "It has paralyzed good teaching and learning."

Lisa Schiff, board president of the San Francisco chapter of Parents for Public Schools, believes the law is a "political sleight of hand" to discredit and eventually privatize the public school system.