On 10th Anniversary, a Look Back at 'No Child' Legacy

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The Rand people think that one accomplishment of NCLB is the notion that school performance can be measured and that we now rely on data systems. Yet they go on to say that the focus on accountability is good even though the data seems to indicate it has had no real effect in ten years, according to the NAEP tests. The focus on accountability was based on a false premise that the failures in education were due to the lack of negative consequences for educators. In other words, teachers have to be threatened or they won't care about their students. Did anyone really believe this or was this the most cynical piece of legislation ever passed?

Andrea Lancer of IL 6:13PM January 08, 2012

Thanks for writing the article--it is an important topic to address and you bring up good points. NCLB has put the focus on accountability but has not improved education. I think NCLB has soured the whole topic of education and made teachers scapegoats. I am for accountability, but definitely think multiple choice tests are only one measure, and certainly not the best way to hold students accountable for learning, critical thinking and writing. I have seen the curriculum narrowed and schools lauded as success-stories when they have gone into test-prep mode and forgone novels for short passages that simulate testing conditions (like you mentioned). I agree that we need a more holistic way of measuring schools--but it is hard to do that without getting too touchy feely (qualitative, not just quantitative data) because some of the most important aspects of what works in the classroom is not quantifiable—building trust, probing student thinking, valuing different points of view, etc.
I found two things in your article that I believe to be inaccurate. First, Obama has not “repeatedly attacked” NCLB. Unfortunately (in my opinion), he supports of premise of the bill, but seeks to make updates to increase its effectiveness. In March of 2010, he issued the “A Blueprint for Reform: The Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act” and has been waiting for Congress to take up the topic. Few people would argue that NCLB has been a success and needs no change. Also, you wrote that AYP stands for Annual Yearly Progress. I believe it is “Adequate” Yearly Progress. Annual and yearly is redundant. Also, the measure is about making sure that each year school are making enough steps forward. Finally, I don’t think you have room here, but I’d love to see another article about value-added measures and other ways of measuring progress in terms of growth instead of achievement.

Annie Brown of CA 4:34PM January 06, 2012

What has happened is that the weaker students feel like failures and have more periods in math and English a week. This takes away from anything that could be a more rewarding course. Art, music, FACs, and Tech Ed courses are cut for more math and more English. Though math and English are weak spots and must be improved, that is the bulk of what the students do all day long. Where is the motivation to try something new that could lead to a career that the student never thought of before. The stronger students are getting less rigor as they have to wait or to help the weaker students. The state testing tells them how smart they are though they hardly have to try to do well. The desire to be excellent and to do new harder things is dying.
The teachers have little choice than to teach to the test. The students are experiencing less and doing less.
No Child Left Behind has been an epic failure.

Chris of PA 4:07PM January 06, 2012

This is a Yes and No topic to comment on. Obviously it has helped progress education however there are the flaws.. Obviously there was no way to have every school district/school in the county be X% of passing. However you have to have a goal.

Brian of KS 3:16PM January 06, 2012

No Child Left Behind was created so W's brother, Neil could cash in on the test-taking industry. Now we see that Jeb (and those people we parents who value true public education call "the billionaire boys club") wants a piece of the action, too: http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/10/jeb-bush-digitial-learning-public-schools
http://thebroadreport.blogspot.com/p/parent-guide.html
It's never been about students. It's about union bashing, charter development and a means for their wealthy friends to get a cut of public education funding because they've raided everything else and see an opportunity to make land grabs and steal public funds under the guise of "innovation and reform".
To punish a school for being in a high-poverty area without providing funding to overcome such obstacles (which is basically what all this "Program Improvement is about) and blaming it on teachers is despicable. It was just a mechanism created to allow a school to "fail" and then be taken over by a wealthy, foundation-backed Charter. If we really wanted to help these kids we'd create communities that provide free or inexpensive, meaningful after school programs, health care clinics, jobs for their parents and opportunities to thrive. I don't see this happening and there is no funding mechanism in place to allow for this. NCLB has always been a sham and an excuse to steal public money and place it in the pockets of people who know diddly-squat about academics or child development.

Sonja L of CA 2:39PM January 06, 2012