False Start in Michigan:
The Early Implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act
October, 2004

Discussion
As part of their analysis, the authors examine some of the administrative and political issues that have influenced implementation of NCLB at both the state and local level, school choice and accountability policies adopted before and parallel with the adoption of NCLB, and how some provisions of the law have been put into effect in three urban school districts. Given their analysis, the authors believe that whether the goals of NCLB will be accomplished in Michigan depend on two key considerations: the clarity of the signals that are sent to schools and the credibility of consequences that schools experience when they fail to meet NCLB targets. On these criteria, the authors note, NCLB has gotten off to a rocky start in Michigan for four reasons. First, the integrity of the signals sent by NCLB has been called into question by public wrangling over which schools should be identified as failing. Second, Michigan educators are well acquainted with the sanctions introduced under NCLB, and thus their impact is likely to be limited. Third, the state's worst budget crisis in decades reduces the urgency of NCLB. Finally, the governor and the Michigan Department of Education have made it clear that their strategies for achieving the goals of NCLB are different than those provided by the law. The governor's education initiative, for example, has focused almost exclusively on providing additional support for "priority schools," and virtually not at all on sanctions. The authors conclude that "some of these obstacles may be overcome with time, but two fundamental problems remain. The assessment system on which incentives and sanctions are based has proven itself too fragile and capricious to win the confidence of educators ... and the incentives and sanctions introduced by NCLB are not strong enough to have a significant positive impact.... There are consequently few grounds for optimism that NCLB will lead to significant improvement in the performance of those Michigan schools where children are most in danger of being left behind."

What It Means To You
How successfully has your district implemented the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act?   Are teachers and administrators in your district clear about the requirements and consequences of the act?

For More Information
Plank, D.N. & Dunbar, C. Jr. (2004). False Start in Michigan: The Early Implementation of the Federal 'No Child Left Behind' Act ," Working Paper No. 13. Education Policy Center at Michigan State University. The paper is available for the EPC Web site at www.epc.msu.edu

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