NCLB reaches 12 years. Is it still an operative law?
Under the No Child Left Behind law (Public Law 107-110, 2001) 100 % of
students were to achieve
proficiency in math and reading by 2014.
The law was due for re-authorization in 2009. It has not been re-authorized. Education
Secretary Arne Duncan responded to criticism by granting waivers. At the time, he said, "America's most sweeping
education law—the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as No
Child Left Behind—is outmoded and constrains state and district efforts for
innovation and reform. The smartest way to fix that is through a reauthorized
ESEA law, but Congress has not agreed on a responsible bill. “
By Valerie Strauss, The Answer Sheet.
It’s the year that all U.S. public schools were supposed to reach 100% student proficiency. It didn’t happen, of course. The law under which that was mandated, No Child Left Behind, has crashed and burned, but, unfortunately, its worst ideas haven’t. Writing about this is Lisa Guisbond of The National Center for Fair & Open Testing, known as FairTest, a non-profit dedicated to ending the misuse of standardized tests.
By Lisa Guisbond
It’s 2014, the year all U.S. public schools were supposed to reach 100% student proficiency, so said No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
No, you didn’t miss the fanfare. One hundred percent proficiency didn’t happen. Not even close. In fact, our classrooms are making even less progresstoward improving overall educational performance and narrowing racial test score gaps than before NCLB became law.
The problem is policy makers are still following NCLB’s test-and-punish path. The names of the tests may have changed, but the strategy remains the same. As the late, great Pete Seeger sang, “When will we ever learn?”
It’s not that the law’s proponents haven’t acknowledged – repeatedly — the law’s vast unpopularity and negative consequences, including the way it made schools all about testing. Back in 2007, Congressman George Miller, an NCLB co-author, said, “No Child Left Behind may be the most negative brand in America.” The retiring congressman said recently that the results from the federally mandated tests were intended to measure school progress and drive improvements. Instead, he said, “the mission became about the test.”
Eight districts in
California have received waivers from NCLB requirements.
