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"No Child left behind is a personal thing in my house," said Iman — a mother of 7-, 10-, and 13-year-olds — who recently moved to Seattle, Washington, US, from Lebanon. She wondered how her kids would be able to achieve proficiency in reading English in three years, with Arabic as their native tongue and French as a second language.
She then added, "Of course it will be wonderful if they can; still I don't want them to feel stupid if they can't!"
Iman is one of thousands who really are surprised to see how the law — which has been designed to make children academically equal — can make them feel "behind."
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was announced by President Bush three days after taking office, and he described the act as "the cornerstone of my Administration."
The act is a US federal law that reauthorizes a number of federal programs that aim to improve the performance of US primary and secondary schools by increasing the standards of accountability for states, school districts, and schools, as well as providing parents more flexibility in choosing which schools their children will attend.
Growing Pains or Worse?
The federal act, passed in 2001, is up for reauthorization this year (2007), but the effectiveness and desirability of its measures continue to be a matter of controversy.
Hearing the US secretary of education Margret Spellings praise the influence of this law on the educational system by saying, "All of America's children — regardless of race, income, or zip code — deserve a good education, and that is what No Child Left Behind is all about," one wonders where the problem is then!
On the other hand, if you read about a recent UC Riverside survey on the act, you will find that an overwhelming majority of Southern California teachers do not like the measure because it "de-professionalizes teaching and stifles creativity in the classroom.''
Between the government and the teachers, a Rochester parent stood boldly before a gathering of mostly teachers, administrators, and academics discussing the flawed NCLB Act. She summed her feelings about the law with the simple statement, "I'm confused."
Who's Left Behind?
The NCLB Act is based on the ambitious goal that all children will be proficient in reading and math by 2014. This means that all students must achieve their grade level or above by that time.
It was originally created under the concept of diminishing the achievement gap among public education students, particularly those considered to be "disadvantaged." Those "at risk" were broken into four subgroups targeted by the project:
- Students with disabilities
- Students with limited English proficiency
- Racial minorities
- Students from low-income families
In keeping with NCLB Act, states are required to report student assessment results to parents in order to hold schools accountable for improving the performance of all students. Also, schools must inform parents when their child is being taught by a teacher or para-professional who does not meet the "highly qualified" requirements (a bachelor's degree and a passing score on a state test demonstrating subject knowledge and teaching skills). This gives students the option to transfer to higher-performing local schools, receive free tutoring, or attend after-school programs.
Fantastic, but Not Realistic
"There is a zero-percent chance that we will ever reach a 100-percent target," said Robert L. Linn, codirector of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at the University of Columbia, Los Angeles. At the core of this debate is whether or not NCLB Act's academic standards are realistic.
In addition to that, having all students subjected to an annual mathematics and reading test, then determining a school's funding according to how well the students perform on those tests, is another central issue regarding NCLB Act. It can place an enormous pressure on the lagging groups: "In some instances, it's made them into scapegoats. You hear, 'Well, if it wasn't for these children, then we would be OK.' It's criminal to treat them this way," said Carol Kula, who teaches high school students in Muscatine, Iowa, who are learning English as a second language.
"My hands were sweating, I almost start to cry, and I had a funny feeling in my stomach, I hope I will never feel that way again, especially by some test I can't show the amazing work I done all year," those were the fears of a third-grade student, said on a documentary made by Lerone Wilson. After spending a year as a student teacher in a New York City elementary school, Wilson explores the effects of the NCLB Act on schools across the country.
Being afraid that they might lose their jobs if the school fails to meet the demands imposed by the law's "adequate yearly progress," teachers are forced to "teach to the test." This amounts to making sure the students are just loaded down with facts that they can use for test taking, instead of other creative and fun teaching strategies.
In his speech, Bush cited the progress achieved by minority children as closing the testing score gap between them and other students. Fact-checkers working after the speech and others say that Bush's claim that NCLB is closing the gap is exaggerated.
And because each state can produce its own standardized tests, states could compensate for inadequate education programs by making the standardized tests easy enough that their results are on par with those from other states with average or above-average education programs.
Show Me the Money
For all that the law asks of school systems, the White House failed to adequately fund its own programs to ensure that needs are being met in the right way. The unwillingness of the federal government to "fully fund" the act has been a major obstacle in its implementation. For example, the authorization for 2006 is $22.75 billion, but President Bush only requested $13.3 billion of that total for this vital program.
However, the Department of Education's reauthorization plan allocates $4,000 in scholarships for students who wish to attend private, other public, or out-of-district public schools. Still, some think that this does not address the problem that exists in many cities: There are simply no schools where they can use the scholarships. Private schools are exclusive and are not likely to accept large numbers of under-performing students from public schools. The tuition of the best private schools can range from four to seven times that of the scholarship money. And there is no sign that suburban schools with high-performing students are lining up to accept these students either.
So far, the transfer aspect of the NCLB Act isn't going as it's supposed to. In 2005, only 1 percent of eligible students nationwide chose to transfer. Critics also question spending money on busing students when funds are needed to hire better teachers, improve instruction, and provide books and computers.
Leave No Man Behind!
The NCLB Act critics have parodied their debate over its slogan, using the motto of the US Army Rangers, "Leave No Man Behind." They relate it to one of the little-known sections of the act that requires public secondary schools to provide military recruiters the same access to facilities as a school provides to higher-education institution recruiters. Schools are also required to distribute the name, home phone number, and address of every student enrolled to military recruiters if requested.
"When I first heard about this, I thought it was too ridiculous to be true, so I did some research and found out that it is in fact part of NCLB," remarked a mother of two, when asked about her opinion.
NCLB "Makeover"
"On paper, the rhetoric-loaded NCLB seems spectacular. In real life, however, this law is long overdue for a makeover. Congress is duty-bound to fix it because when America fails to deliver excellence in education, it only perpetuates the national cycle of poverty," warned Dr. Maxine Myers Agazie, a professor of social work at Albany State University.
Now, as the law's scheduled reauthorization approaches, more than 100 national civil rights, education, disability, advocacy, and religious groups have endorsed the "Joint Organizational Statement on No Child Left Behind Act," calling for major changes to the law. Many of the signers have also offered detailed proposals to amend the law.
A statement initiated by FairTest, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to preventing the misuse of standardized tests, stresses on the point that the federal law should be transformed from one that uses punishments to control schools to one that supports teachers and students; from one that relies primarily on standardized tests to one that encourages high-quality assessments. Elected representatives should listen to educators and parents to determine the real needs of schools. The Congress should work with the states to ensure that all schools are adequately funded and that all children have adequate food, housing, medical care, and other basic human needs to enable their success in school.
Nobody wants to leave any child behind; still, to make sure that a well-intentioned act becomes real, it needs to be implemented in a different way.
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