No Child Left Behind Act

I came across the Fact Sheet: No Child Left Behind Act presented by President Bush and I think that the Bush administration intended NCLB to improve the academic achievement of all students attending the nation’s public schools, with a particular focus on children of low income families and disabilities. However, sometimes things look better on paper, then when actually implemented in real life scenarios. Becuase the federal government has spent billions of dollars in order to improve public schools and this investment in education has not reduced the achievement gap between well-off and lower-income students or between minority students and non-minority students, I believe that changes need to be made.

If or when the Act is reauthorized I think standardized tests need to stop being treated like the precise instruments they are not because they do not adequately reflect a student’s abilities. Currently, the one-size-fits all assessment requirements in reading and math force teachers to teach “to the test.” This not only promotes bad educational practices, gets in the way of creative instruction and impedes learning, but it also does not accommodate the many different types of learning styles. There needs to be different consequences under NCLB’s accountability sanctions for schools and teachers. Teachers can be accountable in many different ways. A reauthorized NCLB should exclude any provision linking student test scores to teacher compensation. Furthermore, NCLB does not authorize nearly enough funding to meet the new requirements that are supposed to eliminate all test-score gaps by the 20013-14 school year. In fact, all mandates made by the federal government should be paid for at 100 percent because currently they are not fully funded. Finding the right balance is going to play a large role to the No Child Left Behind Act and the future of Education in the United States.