March 21, 2002
Dr. James Whitson
1407 Sheldon Drive
Newark, Delaware 19711
Dear Dr. Whitson:
Thank you for contacting my office about the No Child Left Behind Act and its
impact on our educational system. I appreciate your taking the time to follow up
on our conversation from last fall.
As you know, HR 1, the No Child Left Behind Act, was signed into law on January
8th. This legislation provides tough standards, greater accountability, and
public school choice for our students. Its passage, though, caused some
Americans to fear that teachers will "teach those tests" that measure the
success of our educational system in the place of giving students a well-rounded
education. Although such fears certainly warrant our consideration, the "No
Child Left Behind Act" was ultimately designed to raise student achievement,
increase general knowledge, and improve the collective futures of our children
in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.
It should be noted that while the passage and implementation of HR 1 will have
little impact on Delaware's standards-based educational system, the bill does
model the reforms we implemented in Delaware's schools over the course of the
last decade for those states that do not have a state-testing program. In this
regard, Delaware's students and teachers are subject to rigorous standards
measured by a state-testing program administered by Delaware's Department of
Education. Let me address some of the ways in which Delaware's standards based
testing system promotes a well-rounded education.
First of all, educators, who write and refine every question, develop Delaware's
tests. Each test question is then field tested in numerous classrooms throughout
the country so that every student in Delaware has a fair chance at passing the
exam. Finally, a committee of Delaware educators determines whether or not the
test questions are aligned with content standards that have been established and
relayed to all of our teachers, a system that answers the essential questions of
what we want our students to know and when we want our students to know it.
Thus, if the curriculum teachers are using are in line with the standards that
Delaware's Department of Education has set, and if the tests we design match
those same standards, then the state-testing program should reflect the overall
quality of our education.
Furthermore, while Delaware's teachers are aware of specific content standards,
they are not given the opportunity to review upcoming state exams. In addition,
the standardized tests are administered on the same day to Delaware's students.
Both of these measures ensure that test scores will result from mastery of
content standards rather than familiarity with the actual exam.
HR 1 calls on individual states without standards based educational programs to
implement standardized tests in the next several years. Even though
Delaware is unaffected by the passage of
HR 1, our testing programs can serve as a model for other states to
provide their own students with a high quality education. In the end, I believe
that a standards based education will provide improved performance by school
administrators, teachers, and students - a system that ultimately benefits us
all.
Thank you again for contacting my office about the passage of HR 1 and state
tests. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this matter or
other issues of concern to you.
With best personal regards, I am
Sincerely Thomas R. Carper
For more information please visit my web site at
http://carper.senate.gov
[highlighting added by Tony Whitson]