Short Stuff

Fall 2004

	illustration: P.S . Mueller

NCLB Struggles

In early September, The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University released the results of an opinion survey on the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The Civil Rights Project collected close to 1,500 surveys from teachers in Fresno, Calif. and Richmond, Va. The report, Listening to Teachers: Classroom Realities and No Child Left Behind , is part of a five-year study. While many teachers agreed with NCLB's goals, many surveyed expressed concern that the law may be negatively affecting curriculum, instruction, and the ability of low-performing schools to attract and retain quality teachers. The full text of the report can be found at www.civilrights-project.harvard.edu.

Failing Our Children

FairTest, a Cambridge-based activist group, has published a new 170-page report titled Failing Our Children: How No Child Left Behind Undermines Quality and Equity in Education, and An Accountability Model that Supports School Improvement. "Tragically, NCLB is aggravating, not solving, the real problems that cause many children to be left behind," the report begins. "NCLB must be overhauled if the federal government is to make a useful contribution to enhancing the quality of education received by low-income and minority group students." The complete text of the report is posted on the web at www.fairtest.org.

Mixed-Race Groups

A recent study in the journal Psychological Science found that students are capable of more complex analysis when they are involved in discussions with students of another race. The experiment, which involved 357 university students, found that when small discussion groups included at least one African-American student, white students wrote in greater complexity than when they met with only whites. Researchers concluded that the most complex thinking came from groups of students that were ideologically and racially diverse. Visit the website www.blackwell-synergy.com for more information.

Charters Get Poor Marks

A national comparison of data from charter schools and public schools shows charters lagging behind. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) unearthed data from the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly known as the nation's report card. The data shows 4th graders attending charter schools performing about half a year behind students in other public schools in both reading and math. The AFT has historically supported charter schools but its recent research raises concerns about their expansion. The NCLB promotes conversion to charters as a solution to underperforming schools. A longer article is available at The New York Times website: www.nytimes.com/2004/08/17/education/17charter.html.

DOJ Addresses Discrimination

The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division recently sent a letter to all 50 states' departments of education reminding schools to uphold federal and state laws protecting minority students, in particular Arab-American and Muslim students. The letter reads: "Since September 11, 2001, the Civil Rights Division has investigated nearly 600 incidents of violence directed against Arab, Muslim, South-Asian, or Sikh Americans. Over 140 of these have resulted in local or state criminal prosecutions . . . We have, in addition, brought suit against a school district for prohibiting a student from wearing her hijab."

View the original letter at www.adc.org/index/php?id=2322.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) provides educational resources and materials to teachers, parents, and activists.

For more information, contact Marvin Wingfield at
marvinw@adc.org or visit the ADC website: www.adc.org.

Honduran Teacher Victory

This summer teachers in Honduras scored a victory after a bitter strike that involved, according to Labor Notes , "massive demonstrations, violent confrontations with police, arrests of union activists, and accusations that teacher 'terrorists' were attempting to destabilize the government. The teachers struck to defend public education, their union, and their contract from policies being shaped not only by the government of President Ricardo Maduro, but by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and foreign corporations." Read the full article at www.labornotes.org.

Fall 2004