What is "No Child Left Behind" about, and how does it work?

It’s this thing that helps kids that aren’t really doing well in school? That’s what it was in my old school, those who were droping in grades were taking extra classes or where put into groups to learn their own way. Also People who got a low point average on the csap ( colorado student assesement progrem) had to take an additional computer class.

Its something that President Bush started when he got into office. Its an act that tries to increase the standards in schools K-12, to increase school averages, have kids learn more and be up to par or above in their education, to help promote staying in school, and to give parents more choices when it comes to what school their child will attend.

its a fancy word saying that in my opinion that you can not work so hard and u still will pass that grade were the ppl that work hard pass i think its a joke but thats just me… I think if you dont work hard u shouldnt pass… but appartently the government thinks so

The name seems quite misleading, and most of the educators I know do not agree with it. It relies way too much on high stakes standardized testing for schools, and students don’t necessarily get what they need. So much energy is put into having the students preform well on these standardized tests, that funding for other subjects are often scarce. Supplemental education services are usually offered for those who attend title one schools, which pretty much mean that the school was not doing so well for a while in the first place. Not only do you have to be in a title I school, but the help also goes by income levels. Don’t get me wrong, I think the concept of NCLB is great on paper, but the execution needs some work!

It is an bipartisan act meant to improve education through raising expectations, providing measurable goals, and improving parental involvement.

This act has been a boon for the educational testing industry since “measurable goals” largely means standardized tests. No doubt their stockholders are happy with NCLB.

The biggest problem with NCLB is that it is yet another effort by non-educators to improve education. Free market theorists consider competition to be what drives innovation so low performing schools are penalized and lose students and federal funding. The idea here is that competition will make them improve but it also cuts needed funding from the very schools that need it most. White flight from low performing schools have increased school segregation. Since schools are judged on if they meet state standards many states have in fact lowered their standards so more schools pass. Since test scores are how schools are judged much time is spent “teaching to the test.” Instead of preparing students to be successful in life they teach them to score well on tests. Test scores have increased since NCLB started but is it because kids are now smarter or because students have gotten better at taking tests and teachers better at preparing students for tests? Schools also started to list drop-outs as transfers to improve their retention statistics since this is one of the ways they are judged.

The corollary to “no child left behind” is “no child gets ahead.” Since schools are judged by how many kids pass minimal standards there is no incentive to provide for high achieving or gifted students. Many of these programs have been cut to shift resources to remediation of low achieving students. There have been similar cuts to the arts and humanities to concentrate on the 3 R’s.

There is an idea that eduction is not the process of filling a pail but of lighting a fire. That eduction isn’t just presenting the requisite facts to be digested by young minds but to spark the creativity and imagination. Such lofty ideals are not testable on a multiple-choice test though. Does narrowing the focus of schools better prepare students for new challenges in their future?

NCLB also makes it a requirement for schools to provide student contact information to military recruiters as a prerequisite for federal funding. Now schools are part of the business of recruiting our kids into the service.