What a week! The Alliance hosted Dr. Eugene Hickok, who spoke in various venues across the state. Dr. Hickok served six years as Secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Education before serving as Undersecretary and Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education between 2001 and 2005. He was an architect of the No Child Left Behind Act, and responsible for its implementation.
Dr. Hickok flew into Raleigh on Tuesday morning, and flew out of Charlotte on Wednesday. During those hours, he was interviewed on two talk-radio programs, taped another radio program, spoke at a reception for General Assembly members, led a lunch discussion at UNC-Charlotte, and met with a newspaper editor.
He stated that No Child Left Behind successfully revealed weaknesses in the K-12 education system and unveiled the achievement gap across racial and economic groups. He went on to say that the law challenged the status quo, moving the discussion from education inputs to outputs. As it currently stands, the law falls short.
He acknowledged the sadness of it taking an “act of congress” for states to address these educational issues, which had been plaguing families for years. He expressed concern over further federal intervention, hoping that reauthorization brings more local flexibility.
It was fascinating to hear the background particulars of how the bill was negotiated in congress. As the country grieved following the tragedy of 9/11, discussions on the bill came to a halt. Later in 2001, congress promised the education bill would be completed and signed into law ASAP.
In January 2002, the bill was signed into law, despite its inherent flaws. Some of the flaws included measurements for student performance instead of for “academic growth” (North Carolina is currently piloting their “growth accountability measure” for the U. S. Department.), and the accountability model for English proficiency students and students with disabilities.
Dr. Hickok told audiences that K-12 education needs a revolution. He did not think the current system could change itself, and encouraged the concept of money following a child to an educational provider, instead of money only going to the one government system.
On another topic, yesterday the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research released a report full of reasons why NOT to raise the charter school cap. This bias report will surly be used by charter critics across the state. Next week’s journal will address these absurd objections.