On the recordMarch 17, 2011
I will add one more example to this from my experience in Denver. We complied with No Child Left Behind in the Denver public schools. But there was something that didn't make sense to me and to our teachers and our families, which is that we thought we were asking and answering a completely irrelevant question when it came to accountability, which was: How did this year's fourth graders do compared to last year's fourth graders? The accountability system in the United States is based upon that. What our teachers told me is: Michael, it is irrelevant because they are not the same kids. They are right. So we moved to a system that asked the question: How did this group of fifth graders do compared to when they were fourth graders and third graders, compared to what every other child in Colorado with a statistically similar test history did as well. All of a sudden, we began to see places that were driving growth for kids but that were completely unrecognized by the Federal law. We saw other places where kids were achieving at high levels but were falling behind during the course of the year. There is a lot of wisdom in this country about how to move our kids forward. What we have to do is tear down some of the barriers that are in the way of those good ideas. It took me a long time to get that performance system signed off on both at the State and Federal levels.…
