Time to scrap No Child Left Behind : The Sammamish Review – News, Sports, Classifieds in Sammamish, WA

Time to scrap No Child Left Behind : The Sammamish Review – News, Sports, Classifieds in Sammamish, WA:

"It was a lovely idea. When No Child Left Behind was passed into law, the plan was simple — make sure every student in America gets a good education by holding school districts to ever-tougher standards.

But in practice, No Child Left Behind has not delivered, and has caused more trouble than it’s worth. As a result, Sammamish schools may pay a high price for it a few years down the road.

In some ways, the program actually succeeded. By highlighting problems that hadn’t before been quantified, it has allowed schools across the country to better focus their resources.
The law’s end goal — that 100 percent of America’s students graduate with a set of basic skills and can pass a test to prove it — is laudable, but unrealistic.

It doesn’t require a degree in statistics and educational testing to understand why. If everyone passes a test, all it really means is that the test is too easy to be an adequate measure of skills. No test should expect all students to pass, without regard to their ability to learn."