President’s Column:

New state and federal initiatives threaten communications classes

First of two parts

by Gary Clites

Early in his administration, President George W. Bush announced the No Child Left Behind initiative, a new program designed to introduce accountability into public education through a system of state and national testing.  The goal is to guarantee that all children are served by our schools and that all are guaranteed the basic education required to succeed in modern life.  An admirable goal, but one which may have unintended consequences for those of us in journalism education.

The state of Maryland quickly took up the mantle of No Child Left Behind, working to incorporate the state’s program of school testing into the concept.  The state worked to develop its own approach to educational accountability, eventually passing the Bridge to Excellence in Public Schools Act (Senate Bill 856). Over the next few years, that bill will radically change the way public education operates and, significantly, is funded.  

In simple terms, the Bridge to Excellence plan requires counties and schools to develop long-term plans designed to focus all resources on student passage of state exit-exams and federal accountability tests.  Specifically, for the first time ever, the bill requires counties to tie specific budgetary funding and institutional planning directly to the passage of state and federal accountability tests.  In the event state-mandated goals cannot be effectively met, the act threatens a potential state takeover of planning and operation of failing schools and even counties.

In a world of growing technological intricacy and lowered expectations in some public school, all of this may be a sensible plan.  However, as with some other educational reform movements in the past, No Child Left Behind may create problems for teachers who specialize in course work that goes beyond the minimal requirements of state curricula.

Many older teachers will recall the “Back to Basics” movement which swept education in the 1980’s.  Focusing on many of the same problems addressed by No Child Left Behind, “Back to Basics” used testing, funding and other incentives to make certain that every student would be guaranteed a basic level of skills upon graduation.  Unfortunately, the focus on basic education strained those programs aimed at developing higher-level skills and the specialized talents of students.  The net effect was that throughout the 1980’s, school newspapers and other communications media fell to the wayside and many programs were eliminated.

A backlash during the 1990’s refocused at least some resources in secondary education again on specialized programs designed to encourage higher-level skills in students, and schools saw the rebirth of many previously dead programs in communications education.

Although No Child Left Behind and the Bridge to Excellence are much more complicated initiatives than “Back to Basics,” the effect on public education threatens to be much the same.  By focusing on guaranteeing a useful minimal education to all students, and tying all educational funding and planning to that goal, the programs again leave higher-level educational programs like secondary communications education classes out in the cold.  The net effect may be upsetting to those of us devoted to middle and high school journalism.

State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick has verbally expressed her support for varied enrichment programs in the schools, and Bridge to Excellence is certainly not intended to gut higher-level school programs.  However, by tying school funding and resources entirely to accountability tests, the effect is to focus school effort on basic skills classes to the detriment of programs focused on student enrichment.  One county administrator I respect with years of experience in planning said that she would not be surprised to see a quarter to a third of all elective classes in middle and high schools eliminated due to the initiatives.  Asked what journalism teachers should do under the circumstances, she responded, “make sure they’re all certified to teach English.” 

Not that schools will directly order our programs canceled, but in an effort to accomplish the goals of the tests, counties may well increase the number of basic skills classes required of students.  They may require that high school freshmen and sophomores take only required course work, or, in a world of teacher shortages, require that all English teachers be assigned only to English course work, leaving electives to those employees working in areas outside of exit-exam content areas like music and art.

Are these things certain to happen?  No.  Right now, every county in Maryland is working to develop long-term plans for accomplishing the goals of No Child Left Behind and Bridge to Excellence.  In the Spring issue, I’ll address specific strategies we can employ to protect communications programs in Maryland.  But for the moment, journalism teachers throughout the state need to become aware of the strategies their counties are considering employing, and to join in the planning for those efforts.  

Counties are holding public meetings on the issues and internally working to design programs to help students succeed in accountability testing.  The first thing we need to do is to make our voices heard and to point out the value of secondary journalism education to school, state and county goals as well as to our students.  Together, we must fight to show that secondary journalism is a key contributor to student achievement that must be protected.

© Gary Clites, 2003