Welcome to Joel Packer Has All the Answers

In the inaugural podcast, Joel explains why he's here, why he's focusing on the No Child Left Behind law, and how the law became so toxic. But he needs your questions -- so ask Joel@nea.org!

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The transcript follows:

Joel Packer Has All the Answers Podcast - May 1, 2008

Welcome to the podcast. I’m Joel Packer, Director of Education Policy and Practice at the National Education Association.

For more than 20 years I’ve been at NEA helping to represent the views of educators to the Congress and four different presidential administrations. Our goal over the next several months is to keep you informed and updated on the No Child Left Behind Act and to give you a sense of what we can do together to make a difference in education policy.

Let me start by saying I don’t have all the answers, but I do know why they picked this name.We are determined to be interactive. There’s a national dialogue about this law and that dialogue is going to be reflected here. Having answers means I’ll be getting questions - and you better believe, with a title like that, if I don’t HAVE the answers, I’ll get them. But the title also means I’ll be asking some questions and sharing YOUR answers. We may even have a guest from time to time. There’s an email address on the website nea.org and at the end of this podcast where you can ask me specific questions, suggest topics and share stories and tips and your experience under this law.

So why focus on No Child Left Behind?First of all, since the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, nothing has had a more sweeping effect than NCLB. From testing to funding to the curriculum and more, NCLB reaches out and touches some aspects of almost every school.

NCLB passed Congress with overwhelmingly bipartisan support in 2001, but controversy and confusion over the law among educators and the general public grows every year. And support has rapidly eroded. Even the House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, one of the original four authors of the law, recently said that NCLB “has become the most negative brand in America.”

While the law officially expires September 30, it is virtually certain that due to divisions between Congress and the President, divisions in Congress between Democrats and Republicans, as well as divisions within each party, that the law will not be renewed this year. The reality however is that the law doesn’t really expire or go away. As long as Congress continues to fund the many NCLB programs including Title I, Teacher Quality grants, and after school, the law’s requirements and mandates stay in effect.

What this means for all of us is a chance to influence the way the law is rewritten in the coming months into next year. Yes, 2008 is an election year and elections can make a difference in shaping policy. But this podcast won’t be about politics or elections. We’ll be talking about how the law has affected your schools and students and communities and how we can create federal policies that help rather than hurt.

Why has NCLB become so toxic? We’ll explore the reasons in depth in upcoming episodes, but here’s a brief list:

• NCLB has failed in its own fundamental purpose – to raise student test scores and close achievement gaps.NCLB is narrowing the curriculum.
• NCLB is too focused on standardized tests.
• NCLB is a severely underfunded mandate that is shortchanging our students and public schools.
• NCLB will eventually result in almost all schools failing.

In case you can’t tell, the National Education Association opposes the law and is leading the way to a fundamental overhaul. We were the first national organization to propose substantive changes and helped organize a coalition of 144 groups calling for changes. We initiated a lawsuit challenging the unfunded mandate provisions of the law and have worked with members of Congress from both parties to draft bills to change the law. There are actually 134 bills on NCLB pending in Congress that we support

…So there’s our first podcast. Stay tuned to nea.org and please, if you have a question you’d like addressed on future podcasts, a comment, or an idea or experience to share with our vast national audience – Hi Mom! – send an email to joel@nea.org. That’s joel j-o-e-l @nea.org.

Thanks.