No Child Left Behind – The Problem Is Not The Policy, It’s Us
Everyone not chattering about the job numbers is chattering about this morning’s New York Times article on No Child Left Behind and the waivers that are increasingly freeing states from its requirements. In general some waivers were necessary – and some were issued during the Bush Administration, too – because the law was supposed to be reauthorized in 2007 and 2012 is now half over.
But when you read stuff like this line in The Times story, you can’t help but wonder how much of all this is“everybody knows” and how much is based in facts:
“[No Child Left Behind] has been derided for what some regard as an obsessive focus on test results, which has led to some notorious cheating scandals.”
Perhaps, but were there cheating scandals before No Child? Yes. In fact, they’ve been a problem since the beginning of efforts to increase accountability in education. Before we get to that, here’s a quick primer on how
But when you read stuff like this line in The Times story, you can’t help but wonder how much of all this is“everybody knows” and how much is based in facts:
“[No Child Left Behind] has been derided for what some regard as an obsessive focus on test results, which has led to some notorious cheating scandals.”
Perhaps, but were there cheating scandals before No Child? Yes. In fact, they’ve been a problem since the beginning of efforts to increase accountability in education. Before we get to that, here’s a quick primer on how