Kip Bobroff, a professor in the UNM School of Law, said Wednesday that the No Child Left Behind Act has done more harm than good to the country's public schools.
He gave a speech at the law school as a requirement for receiving a professorship from Keleher & McLeod. Bobroff is the first professor at the school to receive a professorship from the local law firm.
Having taught an educational equity class at the law school last fall and with interest as a parent, Bobroff chose the act as a topic for his speech.
"Parents have been struggling for good schools for their students for a long time," he said.
The act aims to improve the quality of public schools with standardized testing, increasing complex skills needed in the workforce so that no child is left behind.
Bobroff said the act came out of frustration toward unequal opportunities in public schools and that it is producing unintended effects.
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"We don't have a system that can distinguish between good and bad schools," Bobroff said.
A firsthand experience with East San Jose Elementary School, which was put on probation by the state, led him to work with parents and teachers to overturn the ranking. ESJ has a dual-language teaching system and often sends students home with work in Spanish. Bobroff said he would often read his son's homework and would get lost after the first line. But, he said the school is not failing, but succeeding because of its teaching system and does not need to be reformed.
"There are schools in New Mexico that need to be taken and shaken so that education can reform to make good schools," he said.
The first step in the New Mexico State Department of Education's accountability system is to place schools on probation if they have not kept up with progress needed to meet 100 percent proficiency by 2014.
But, Bobroff said, the tests administered to students are overwhelmingly in English and the act doesn't allow a way for dual-language schools in New Mexico to survive.
If schools fail to meet standards, students can be given a choice to move to better schools within their district. Bobroff said when students move, teachers will likely leave also.
The final step for failing schools is that the state can eventually take them over and install a new curriculum.
"It is not surprising that under this system, teachers and principals feel pressure," Bobroff said.
Trini Solomon, a San Ildefonso School Board member, said the problems she sees with the act are that it doesn't cater to the needs of students who are not fluent in English, especially here where there is a large Spanish and native speaking student population.
"Why don't we get a little more time for tests if students are not fluent?" she said.
By focusing on math and language arts scores, Bobroff said the pressure to do well on tests in those areas could put liberal arts on the back shelf.
He said parents and educators can affect the way the state administers the act. He added that 14 state superintendents have called President Bush to revise the act.
"I worry what it will mean for the long-term health of our democracy," he said.
