SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE January 7, 2008

HEADLINE: Should No Child Left Behind Act be reauthorized? – YES While Congress stalls, students of color fall through the cracks

By Marc Morial,John Trasviña

The prospect of Congress waiting until after the 2008 elections to improve and renew the No Child Left Behind Act is bad news for anyone committed to educational quality and equity. If parents, students, educators and community leaders do not come together in early 2008 to re-shape this law, the nation - including the children who are most disadvantaged and underserved in U.S schools - will suffer.

The benefits of a sound education are considerable. Well-educated Americans earn more in wages, vote more frequently, experience better health and contribute more to our nation's leadership in the world. America has long held out the promise of an appropriate public education for all, but we are not meeting this promise for millions of our children, and the consequences for these students and the nation are enormous.

Given that only 70 percent of all high school students actually graduate, NCLB must be reformed and well-funded. Congress urgently needs to respond to the fact that our nation's public high schools are graduating only about half of their African American and American Indian students and slightly more than 50 percent of Hispanic students. Further, about 2,000 of the nation's 22,000 public high schools produce roughly half of the nation's high school dropouts, and not surprisingly, these "dropout factories" serve mostly students of color. Substantial NCLB reforms are necessary to put an end to the dropout crisis and improve the state of American public education.

We have a moral imperative to hold schools accountable - it is our responsibility to provide every child with an excellent education so that they can grow to be productive and prosperous adults. And there are economic implications as well. The cost of dropping out is paid first by the individual who fails to graduate, and then ultimately by all Americans. If the high school graduation rates of students of color were raised to the current level of whites by 2020, and if those minority graduates went on to postsecondary education at rates similar to whites, the potential increase in personal income across the country would, by conservative estimates, add more than $310.4 billion to the U.S. economy. Beyond the economic impact, only about 30 percent of students entering high school today are reading at grade level, resulting in only a third being fully prepared for college and work when they leave high school. Unless these troubling trends are reversed, our high schools will become increasingly complicit in creating a permanent underclass of individuals who cannot provide for themselves and their families and are prevented from actively wielding the levers of democracy.

Let's ensure America's global competitiveness by fully investing in the success of all children so that they reach their full potential. NCLB is not perfect, but it is the best national vehicle we've got for ensuring that more students of color leave high school with a diploma in hand.

Education is a core civil right and, at a minimum, NCLB must be reframed to make college and work preparedness for all students a top priority. It must hold high schools accountable for student success, ensure that all students have excellent teachers and leaders, and ensure that equitable learning conditions exist for all students. Setting aside the reauthorization of NCLB until after the elections risks closing the door on thousands of high school students, who will eventually drop out because their schools are not being held accountable for their educational success. Congress must strengthen NCLB and reauthorize it early in 2008 before yet another class of promising students is left behind.