As Randi Weingarten took the helm of the American Federation of Teachers this week, she called for community schools to replace the standardized tests of the No Child Left Behind law.

It’s a concept that sure makes a lot of sense, given that we know the lowest-performing schools serving the neediest students are the ones that need much more than data highlighting their status.

Weingarten said she still supports holding schools and teachers accountable for student progress, but wants a system that’s fair and accounts for the factors that they can control.

“For years we tried to correct what was wrong with NCLB,” she said in her inaugural speech as AFT president. “But now we know better: NCLB does not work.”

The law, she continued, relies too heavily on standardized tests, narrows the curriculum, stresses sanctions over supports, and doesn’t help the students it was designed to target—those most in need.

“These are the children who have the least opportunity outside the school walls to be exposed to all the elements of a well-rounded education: the arts and physical fitness, the ability to think critically and argue logically, the value of active citizenship, and a knowledge of different people and places,” Weingarten continued.

Community schools have the ability to provide for the social needs of these students and sometimes their parents as well. A community school could host a health clinic, after-school tutoring and mentoring programs, recreational activities, and family counseling.

Her speech popped up just as I was researching the cover story for ASBJ’s October issue, which will look at how school districts are planning for new schools, or in some cases, closures, in the wake of some pretty interesting demographic shifts. Weingarten, I learned, lives in the Battery Park section of Manhattan, one of the New York City neighborhoods that’s seeing a rather surprising enrollment surge. Stay tuned for that issue.

Joetta Sack-Min, Assoicate Editor