Revising No Child Left Behind
Standardized tests have taken too much power from parents and local teachers.
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President George W. Bush signed No Child Behind into law in 2002 with the best of intentions. However, as all too often happens, good intentions were bedeviled by stumbling blocks in the real world. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has transformed public schools and, in the process, opened the door to an ever-more-centralized educational system. In recent years, a variety of groups — including teachers’ unions, parent organizations, grassroots progressives, and conservative activists — have complained about the current trajectory of American education.
In January, the Senate began to examine NCLB, taking up the question of whether to revise it, and the House will probably vote on revisions to NCLB later this month. This effort might not go anywhere. After all, past Congresses have tried and failed to revise NCLB. But let’s hope it’s not another dead end, because reform could help create an educational system that is more responsive to local communities.
High-stakes standardized tests were at the center of No Child Left Behind, and any revision of the law would have to take into account testing practices. If Congress wishes to undo the Gordian knot of federal-education-policy red tape, it will have to revise federal accountability standards.
NCLB required each state to design an “accountability” system for its students; this mandate included the stipulation that every public-school student in the United States had to score at the “proficient” level on state-administered standardized tests by 2014. Nearly every public school has failed to meet that standard of a 100 percent “proficiency” rating for students. NCLB’s sky-high standards have given the federal government further leverage in shaping American education. The Obama administration has granted “waivers” from NCLB to 43 states — as long as these states agree to certain conditions set by the administration. The waiver process combined with the Race to the Top program has helped the Obama White House impose its vision for education (including Common Core) on the nation as a whole.
This vision involves an endlessly expanding bureaucracy and a swelling stream of tests. Under NCLB, 17 tests are mandated by the federal government each year, including annual exams in mathematics and reading for students in grades three through eight. As a condition of relief from NCLB and to obtain access to Race to the Top money, the states typically must develop ways to evaluate teachers via students’ standardized test scores. This means that nearly every individual class, from second-grade reading to high-school physics, could be subjected to a round of standardized testing. Michael J. Petrilli — head of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a major education think tank — estimates that much of the growth in testing can be traced to this teacher “accountability” mandate.
In January, the Senate began to examine NCLB, taking up the question of whether to revise it, and the House will probably vote on revisions to NCLB later this month. This effort might not go anywhere. After all, past Congresses have tried and failed to revise NCLB. But let’s hope it’s not another dead end, because reform could help create an educational system that is more responsive to local communities.
High-stakes standardized tests were at the center of No Child Left Behind, and any revision of the law would have to take into account testing practices. If Congress wishes to undo the Gordian knot of federal-education-policy red tape, it will have to revise federal accountability standards.
NCLB required each state to design an “accountability” system for its students; this mandate included the stipulation that every public-school student in the United States had to score at the “proficient” level on state-administered standardized tests by 2014. Nearly every public school has failed to meet that standard of a 100 percent “proficiency” rating for students. NCLB’s sky-high standards have given the federal government further leverage in shaping American education. The Obama administration has granted “waivers” from NCLB to 43 states — as long as these states agree to certain conditions set by the administration. The waiver process combined with the Race to the Top program has helped the Obama White House impose its vision for education (including Common Core) on the nation as a whole.
This vision involves an endlessly expanding bureaucracy and a swelling stream of tests. Under NCLB, 17 tests are mandated by the federal government each year, including annual exams in mathematics and reading for students in grades three through eight. As a condition of relief from NCLB and to obtain access to Race to the Top money, the states typically must develop ways to evaluate teachers via students’ standardized test scores. This means that nearly every individual class, from second-grade reading to high-school physics, could be subjected to a round of standardized testing. Michael J. Petrilli — head of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a major education think tank — estimates that much of the growth in testing can be traced to this teacher “accountability” mandate.
