Bush hints at compromise on standardized-test plan
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WASHINGTON - Bowing to pressure from conservative Republicans as he pursues his education plan, President Bush now appears willing to make compromises on the linchpin of his program: the requirement that states adopt tough new standardized tests.
Throughout last year's presidential campaign, Bush pressed to require states to impose standardized tests that would measure math and reading skills in grades three through eight.
While he never called for a single national test, Bush argued that statewide tests would allow the federal government to hold failing schools accountable.
But in an interview with reporters this week at the White House, Bush said he would not insist that uniform tests be implemented statewide - a concession that many reformers believe will limit his ability to improve schools.
The pressure to move away from mandatory standardized tests has come from conservative Republicans and advocates of "local control" who resist federal intrusion in education.
Key GOP members in Congress have signaled that they would balk at statewide testing, and Bush seems willing to deal.
"So long as there is a viable accountability system, where states are able to show progress and where states can show whether or not children are and if not, that there is a consequence - then that's fine by me," Bush said Tuesday.
Bush's statement was a significant step short of his rhetoric last year, when he said uniform statewide tests were critical to allow comparisons among school districts and among states.
Reformers contend that the lack of such comparisons makes it much harder to take schools to task. "Without clear statewide standards, all you have is the shell of accountability, with very different results in different districts," said John Jennings, director of the Center on National Education Policy. "In poor districts, much less is expected of kids, and differing tests won't reflect that."
National studies, Jennings said, "have shown that kids in the inner city who are being told they are A students would really be C or D students in the suburbs, because they are being held to lower standards." Without uniformity statewide, he said, "you are just testing for the sake of testing."
But Bush sharply disputed that argument, saying basic reading, writing and math tests are easy to correlate. "A reading comprehension test is a reading comprehension test. And a math test in the fourth grade - there's not many ways you can foul up a test," he said. "It's pretty easy to `norm' " the results.
A number of states already employ different tests year to year, Bush pointed out. "In the state of Arizona, they've got one test one year and another test another year, and they're able to correlate, and that's fine," he said. "The state of Iowa has the same thing. I have great faith in the governors of those states and the people of those states."
Education analysts, however, say it is very difficult to correlate the results of different tests over several years, particularly if the tests also vary within a state.
"What Bush is talking about is getting kids to standards, so there has to be consistency across the state and across time," said Amy Wilkins, an analyst at the Education Trust, an urban education think tank. "Without that, he can't claim that he is applying the same standards equally."
Yet another element that Bush advocated during the campaign - and that he now seems willing to negotiate - is the national benchmark test, which would help ensure that some states do not write easy tests to avoid losing federal education funds.
Bush proposed last year that states require a representative sampling of students to take the National Assessment of Education Progress exam annually.
But conservatives have attacked that idea, too, and Tuesday Bush stopped short of saying he would insist states take part in the national exam.
"We believe they should, and are willing to help states by paying for it," he said.
Ultimately, Bush's plan calls for $1,500 vouchers that would allow parents of children in chronically failing schools - as determined by the new tests - to move to private or parochial schools. This, Bush argues, would prod the worst-performing schools to improve. "There must be a consequence," he has said repeatedly.
Vouchers, vociferously opposed by teachers' unions, are considered by many political analysts the least likely of Bush's education proposals to win congressional approval.
But Tucker Eskew, director of White House media affairs, said Bush believes they are important as a last resort.
"If there's a time for negotiating (with Congress), there's a time for it," Eskew said. "But the president is sticking by his proposal."