Opinion
Federal Letter to the Editor

A Second Set of Proposals for Better Accountability

September 15, 2009 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

In his Commentary “Replacing No Child Left Behind,” (Aug. 12, 2009), Richard Rothstein offers valuable proposals to overhaul the federal role in education and transform assessment and accountability. The Forum on Educational Accountability (which I chair) has produced a complementary set of proposals, building on the Joint Organizational Statement on NCLB that has been endorsed by 151 national organizations.

These proposals represent an extremely broad cross section of thinking about how to improve education. Both support efforts to use data on students’ opportunity to learn, inside and outside of schools, to correct the country’s profound educational inequalities. Both plans would reduce federally mandated testing.

Large-scale tests in two or three subjects do a poor job of assessing and assisting individual progress across a rich curriculum. They provide too little information, too infrequently, in too narrow a format. The public and policymakers have many expectations for schools, most of which cannot be measured with standardized tests. The solution is to build a variety of classroom, school, district, state, and national assessments to provide appropriate information for various purposes. Mr. Rothstein’s description of the proposal by the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education for an expanded and overhauled National Assessment of Educational Progress fits with this solution.

The BBA emphasizes inspectorates. The FEA focuses on building assessments of student learning from the classroom up. These are complementary approaches, which is why my organization, FairTest, helped craft legislation in Massachusetts to build a system with limited statewide tests, strong local assessments, and inspections.

In a 2007 draft reauthorization bill for the No Child Left Behind Act, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., proposed to fund development of new local and state assessment systems. States should include such a plan in their Race to the Top Fund proposals for grants under the economic-stimulus program, and it must be in a new Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Monty Neill

Deputy and Interim Executive Director

National Center for Fair & Open Testing

(FairTest)

Boston, Mass.

A version of this article appeared in the September 16, 2009 edition of Education Week as A Second Set of Proposals for Better Accountability

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Opinion A D.C. Insider Explains What’s Changed in Education Policy
The biggest thing that people don’t understand about federal education policy? How much the details really matter.
7 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Federal What Superintendents Think About a Steady Clip of Federal K-12 Changes
A state superintendent and two district leaders shared their thoughts on the latest changes coming from Washington.
4 min read
From left, Quentin J. Lee, superintendent of Talladega City Schools, Keith Konyk, superintendent of Elizabeth Forward School District, and Eric Mackey, Alabama's state superintendent of education, discuss the latest K-12 policy changes at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 on July 2, 2025.
From left, Quentin J. Lee, superintendent of Talladega City Schools in Alabama; Keith Konyk, superintendent of Elizabeth Forward School District in Pennsylvania; and Eric Mackey, Alabama's state superintendent of education, discuss the latest K-12 policy changes at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 on July 2, 2025.
Kaylee Domzalski/Education Week
Federal The Senate Passed a Federal Voucher Program. What's in It?
The measure would create a national program funding private school tuition through tax credits, though states would have to opt in.
7 min read
The Senate side of the Capitol is seen in Washington, early Monday, June 30, 2025, as Republicans plan to begin a final push to advance President Donald Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts package.
The Senate side of the Capitol is seen in Washington early on June 30, 2025, hours before Republicans narrowly passed President Donald Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts package. The bill includes the first major federal private school choice program.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Federal Senate Narrowly Passes Trump’s Big Tax Breaks and Spending Cuts Bill
The bill goes back to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson warned off big revisions from his chamber’s version.
5 min read
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., center, joined from left by, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip, Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks to reporters after passage of the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 2025.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., center, joined from left by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip; Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; and Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks to reporters after passage of the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts, at the U.S. Capitol on July 1, 2025. The bill includes the first major federal investment in a private school choice program.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP