In case you’re not familiar with the acronym, NCLB is the “No Child Left Behind Act”. This piece of legislation presents some interesting dilemmas for me since I am a teacher by trade but since this is not the education blog, I’m going to reserve my comments on what NCLB means for schools and instead talk about why it’s important to homeschoolers.
What NCLB Does
NCLB is almost a ‘buzz word’ in education circles but it has done several things in public education. One such thing is to provide funding for programs that will boost student achievement when the school fails minimum requirements. NCLB will pay for students to go to centers like SCORE or Sylvan when their own school is unable or fails to help them. NCLB also stipulates that schools and teachers meet minimum requirements to help boost student achievement and that teachers are “held accountable.” (This remains the subject of much debate but it is not important for our purposes here.)
The hidden effect of the NCLB is that it is increasing federal involvement in public education. Schools become increasingly dependant on the funding provided, and therefore, public schools are becoming increasingly compliant with NCLB policies put forth by the federal government.
The Wording in NCLB
However, this compliance is explicitly discussed under a section for private schools. Although most homeschools are not technically private schools–for the purposes of the bill the language of “private schools” applies to home schools as well. Any school that doesn’t receive federal funds is exempt from complying with NCLB standards and benchmarks but instead is accountable to the school’s own governing body. (Or in some cases, the state’s or district’s requirements.)
Should the Wording be Changed. . .
If the wording were changed to include private schools in meeting benchmarks, it could also mean that homeschoolers would be subjected to meeting federal requirements. As it is now, homeschoolers are required to meet state requirements. To some, meeting federal requirements may not seem like such a bad thing, and if that’s the case for you, I suggest you’re not getting the whole picture. No one would complain if federally, we all adopted regulations like that of New Jersey or Texas where no reporting is required. But believe me, if the federal regulations went to looking something like New York State’s requirements–no one would be very happy about it.
Since elections are about a year away and campaigning is heavy, I hope to focus a few articles a month on issues that are coming up for vote as well as focus on each candidate’s view on education as it might affect homeschooling.