In January of 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which penalizes or rewards schools based on students’ performance on standardized tests. Nearly seven years later the questions surrounding this controversial legislation are as pressing as ever. Does No Child Left Behind make the grade?
NCLB sets up schools to fail. This year NCLB labeled one out of every four California public schools a “failing school”. Instead of punitive measures, we need a system that provides assistance and resources to help all students succeed. We need to end NCLB and instead focus on reforms that work. Congress should restore and enhance the federal class size reduction program, with priority given to our schools in greatest need. We need expanded children’s pre-school programs, funding for quality teacher training, and a massive infusion of resources into our public schools.
The logic of NCLB leads to merit pay. The NCLB reauthorization plan that failed to pass last year, proposed a new federal mandate to pay and evaluate teachers based on student test scores. Test scores don’t fairly measure student achievement and cannot accurately evaluate and fairly determine pay for teachers. Paying teachers based on student test scores will result in more teaching to the test and will end up driving the best teachers away from lower-performing, inner-city, majority-minority schools – the very ones that need them the most.
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