Strategic Plan Goal #4
Interdisciplinary Interaction as a Core Focus of the College of
Education in Teaching, Research, and Service

Collaboration Connects Educators as They Explore No Child Left Behind

The College launched a new weekly television series on University of Iowa Television (UITV) this year. The “Education at Iowa” series highlights the college’s many programs, projects, and resources by presenting practical information on a variety of subjects related to education.

One important topic explored was the important No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act. Because of the political capital invested in NCLB, not to mention the state and federal tax dollars it has cost to this point, research colleges like ours have a special responsibility to examine its arguments, its research base, and its effects on students, teachers, classrooms, and schools.

Through a series of four programs moderated by Associate Dean James Marshall, education experts across the College connected with the public education community and federal legislators.

“The NCLB legislation represents the most substantial effort yet by the federal government to insert its priorities and policies into public schooling,” Marshall said. “It is already having substantial effects on teachers, curricula, and assessment, and it is clearly leading school districts in Iowa and around the country to re-examine their classroom practices.”

The first program focused on Iowa’s plans for complying with NCLB and featured Steve Dunbar, a professor in the Iowa Testing Programs, and Linda Fielding, an associate professor in the Language, Literacy, and Culture program and member of the statewide Reading First leadership team. Fielding spoke about her work with the state-level implementation of Reading First and its connection with the NCLB Act.

The second program featured an interdisciplinary panel discussion examining potential problems and pitfalls with the legislation, such as how the law sets difficult goals for schools to reach, especially without additional funding.

“The vision of this law was never in question,” said Susan Lagos (MA ‘75/PhD ‘85), Educational Administration clinical associate professor and a former Cedar Rapids principal. “It’s a wonderful goal, but it’s also an ultimatum that becomes counter-productive. We’re educating people, not producing a product.”

Mary Day, a representative for U.S. Senator Charles Grassley, said she hoped those who attended the discussion and expressed concerns about the law would speak with politicians.

Other speakers at the event were: Sandra Damico, College of Education dean; Robert Brennan, director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Measurement and Assessment; Associate Professor Linda Fielding; Bev Schroeder, staff member in U.S. Senator Tom Harkin’s office; and Allison Corbin (BS ‘90/MA ‘96), a teacher at Johnson Elementary School in Cedar Rapids.

The third program focused on policy implications and featured Pam Ehly (EdS ‘94/IED ‘02), director of instruction for the Iowa City Community School District, who shared the Act’s impact on schools, teachers, and students. Peter Hlebowitsh, a professor in Curriculum and Supervision, talked about the larger implications NCLB presents.

The fourth program centered on testing. Cyndie Schmeiser (PhD ’83), vice president of ACT, discussed how the ACT tests are constructed and discussed new developments with the tests. David Frisbie, a professor in the Iowa Testing Programs, talked about interpreting Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITSB) scores—a topic of interest to both parents and teachers. Micheline Chalhoub-Deville, an associate professor of Foreign Language Education and English-as-a-Second-Language Education, discussed the development of tests for non-English speakers and specialized testing and how these tests differ from ITBS and ACT.

It has been four years since the NCLB legislation was passed. Before another four years go by, Marshall says we need serious investigation into the effects it has already had on American schooling.

“So far, we have no evidence that intensive high stakes testing improves student learning, nor that school districts can manage their enormously complicated missions at the same time that they are pouring resources into largely remedial programs,” said Marshall. “We do, on the other hand, have several examples of large-scale mismanagement of testing data in other states as well as badly handled audits of student retention rates in urban schools.”

The “Education at Iowa” television series appears at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays on the cable systems on UITV: Iowa City Channel 17 and on Cedar Rapids Community Schools Television: Mediacom Channel 17/McLeod Channel 13.

More information about NCLB and other programming on the “Education at Iowa” TV series may be found at www.education.uiowa.edu/tv/.