By Andrew S.
Thirty minutes left… fifteen minutes left… five minutes left… time… the raise of a student’s hand, “I didn’t finish,” and the generic response from the teacher, “better luck next time.” Every child in the United States has experienced the anxiety of standardized testing.
In 2001, the Bush administration passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in an attempt to improve the education system of the United States. According to Martin R. West, “NCLB’s overarching goal is that all American students reach math and reading proficiency by 2014 and that states adopt comprehensive accountability systems for identifying and improving underperforming schools.”
A massive amount of taxpayer money has gone into integrating this act into the United States education system, but to no avail. So what exactly has NCLB done for our nation’s education system?
According to the Committee on Appropriations in a hearing in front of the United States Senate labeled “Federal Funding For The No Child Left Behind Act,” “The average reading score for high school seniors in 2005 was lower than the score in 1992, and the percentage of seniors scoring “proficient” or better on the NAEP reading assessment has now decreased from 40 percent in 1992 to 35 percent in 2005.”
This means that one of the main subjects this act is funding is still steadily decreasing; counterproductive?
According to the House Education Committee in a publication entitled “Problems with the No Child Left Behind Act,” “71 percent of elementary school districts surveyed have been forced to cut back or eliminate subject instruction in order to make more time for reading and math.”
Clearly this act is not improving academic achievement in the slightest if it is causing schools to cut funding in science programs, art programs, etc. How can one achieve in subjects that either don’t exist or are underfunded?
The act forces standardized tests for reading and math to be implemented in all United States school systems and if students do not maintain passing grades on these tests the schools do not receive funding.
More testing means less curriculum time for other subjects because students have to spend more time preparing for state tests. If we are trying to improve our education system then why would we cut funding to schools that clearly need it?
I’m sure you are thinking, “If it has failed, why it is still an issue? Shouldn’t we just accept it and move on?” According to www.thejournal.com, over $142 billion has been invested from Obama’s stimulus package into NCLB. Why does this nation insist on funding an act that has not worked?
More tests, less subject instruction, and more money wasted. That is all NCLB has done for this nation.
