Great Falls Tribune: State educators ask Duncan to rework No Child Left Behind
“How ’bout we fix the law?” was the response from the one person who could actually follow through on her suggestion: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
“We want to see you fix it,” McCarty said to Duncan as she warned him that upcoming test results threaten to add many more schools to the state’s list of those not making “adequate yearly progress,” and will stretch already tight resources being used to help the poorest performers.
“If we label everyone else, we’re going to have to have a greater shame mentality in our state, which doesn’t help our communities, our students or our staff,” McCarty said. “We’re asking if you could suspend it while you fix it.”
The principal of the Great Falls school, which made adequate progress based on 2009-10 scores, was part of a small contingent of Montana educators who got a rare chance Tuesday to speak face-to-face with the nation’s highest education official. The meeting was held in the Capitol Hill office of Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, who wanted Duncan, a former Chicago school superintendent, to hear the views of rural educators.
