What the public says about what they say

In his article, "Digging Deeper: Where Does the Public Stand on Standards-based Education?", Bryan Goodwin discusses how the No Child Left Behind Act does not meet all the needs communities would like the see in public schools. He discusses his point through research done by McREL to see what the public is saying about what the policymakers are doing. According to NCLB, "schools must demonstrate that 100 percent of their students test at proficient levels on statewid assessments by 2013-2014" (Goodwin 1).
Goodwin addresses that there are commonly two views on the NCLB, either that it will force schools to take all students seriously and be a positive effect or that it is unrealistic and could lead to tons of state takeovers and closures of public schools. But Goodwin argues that both these opinions come from the "theys", the policy makers and school officials, not the parents, communities or students.
Through the research, it was found that majority of communitiy members agree with the basic outline of the NCLB, there should be standards and accountability. And they even agree that the best way to test these are through test, but they don't think it should stop there. Communities have a slightly different take on accountability then state officials. Communties believe that schools being more responsive and open to parents and communities is also a large part of accountability, everything should not be geared towards the officials.
The biggest problem communities see with public schools have little to do with the standards and academics but more with community involvemnet, student safety and values. As Goodwin sites, a concerned community member said, "We have to figure out how to get the communitiy involved. Students need to know people care about them...education is the responsibilty of not just schools, but the entire community" (6).
Goodwin concludes his points by agreeing that NCLB supports what the public wants, but does not meet all the needs.