Has No Child Left Behind Improved Public Education?

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The AFT believes that attention and resources should be focused on improving the whole school by dealing with infrastructure issues, providing for a solid curriculum, addressing safety and discipline issues, developing programs for parental involvement, and supporting staff with strong professional development, which are the incentives that will make schools appealing to students, their parents, and to teachers. CFT policy calls for the delivery of a well-rounded education, including a full measure of social studies and the arts, necessary to the development of the whole human being and citizen, rather than narrowing delivery of instruction to meet the needs of standardized tests. CFT policy also supports performance-based assessment of students as opposed to multiple-choice assessments and local programs that prepare students to be active learners.

“These problems with the structure and implementation of the law have been exacerbated by a lack of adequate funding from the federal government.” (Ibid.) CFT policy supports the acquisition of revenues and resources necessary to bring reality to the imperative that “all children can learn,” and the continuation and expansion of current funding for programs such as Title I. NCLB has never been fully funded, not even close. There is now more than a $70 billion gap between what was promised and what has been received by states, districts, and schools.