A love letter to NCLB: A conversation with Kristin Fitzgerald

04 Jun A love letter to NCLB: A conversation with Kristin Fitzgerald

By Dale Chu

As a former member of the Naperville District 203 Board of Education, Kristin Fitzgerald spent over a decade working on the front lines of education, advocating for policies that address achievement gaps. Her tenure on the board—where she helped drive key decisions about school improvement, assessments, and data use—offers a unique perspective on the lasting impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and its focus on standardized testing. I recently spoke with Kristin about the importance of data in shaping educational policy, how NCLB’s principles still resonate today, and how standardized testing can continue to highlight and address disparities across student subgroups. Here’s what she said.

Dale Chu: As a former school board member, you’ve emphasized the importance of standardized assessment data, even saying that school board members can’t do their job without it. Can you say more?

Kristin Fitzgerald: Assessment data is essential. It’s the foundation for understanding where students are academically so that aggressive time-bound goals can be set for improvement. Once these goals are set, the board uses them to evaluate the superintendent’s and the district’s performance. These goals and evaluation are the cornerstone of good board work.

Dale: How did standardized assessment data help you identify achievement gaps and other areas of concern in your district, and how did that data influence policy or programmatic changes during your tenure?

Kristin: When I started on the Board, our state had just switched to PARCC. Once we had two years of data, we could see that the rate of growth for students who were behind was just not adequate to achieve our goals. We made a huge investment aimed at closing gaps, hiring nineteen new staff members at the schools with students most in need of support. This included instructional coaches, math specialists, assistant principals, classroom teachers, counselors and student services coordinators. These efforts went a long way in accelerating student progress, and in improving the quality of instruction.

Dale: Given your experience both on the school board and on Capitol Hill, how did your work in Washington inform your understanding of the role data plays in education policy, and how did it shape your perspective?

Kristin: I was working for the Committee on Education and the Workforce when No Child Left Behind was signed into law, and I can remember Chairman Boehner saying that it was his proudest accomplishment. The law’s requirement that academic performance data be disaggregated and reported is one of the greatest tools I have relied on in my board work. District averages simply aren’t adequate, and they mask the details needed to help students who are behind catch up. Consider this interview my love letter to NCLB!

Dale: Looking back at your time on the board, are there any specific initiatives or successes driven by testing data that you’re particularly proud of? How did those efforts contribute to closing gaps or improving outcomes for students in your district?

Kristin: I was proud to serve on our board and think we did as much as we could to ensure the district’s investments were evidence-based. I am grateful that our efforts led to real improvements. Going forward, the most important thing we can do is to ensure school board members continue to have the data they need to make smart decisions that help students. That’s what motivate me to keep pushing for better use of data and sharper focus on the students behind the averages.

Dale: Thanks so much for your time and insights. Any parting thoughts for our readers?

Kristin: Serving on a school board is both a privilege and a responsibility. Boards must never forget to keep the focus on every subgroup of kids. But school boards cannot do their jobs well if they don’t have the objective data provided by standardized testing.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.