HOW "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND" UNDERMINES QUALITY AND EQUITY IN EDUCATION
The first two years of implementation of the controversial "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) law have damaged education quality and equity because of the law's incorrect assumptions and arbitrary requirements, according to a 170-page report released today. In addition to critiquing NCLB, "Failing Our Children" by the National Center for Fair & Open Testing outlines a fundamentally different approach to assessment and accountability that the authors say would better promote needed school reforms. "The current federal law is aggravating, not solving, the real problems that cause many children to be left behind," explained FairTest Executive Director, Monty Neill, the report's lead author. "NCLB must be thoroughly overhauled if the federal government is to make a useful contribution to enhancing the quality of education in U.S. schools, particularly for low-income and minority group students." Based on evidence collected from two years of classroom experience around the nation, FairTest documented a series of basic flaws in NCLB, such as: (1) The law falsely assumes that boosting test scores should be the primary goal of schools, an approach that has not improved education when implemented by individual states; (2) Widespread school "failure" is an inevitable outcome of NCLB's one-size-fits-all design because of rigid "adequate yearly progress" provisions, which set unrealistic goals for academic gains, punish diversity, and ignore measurement error; (3) NCLB's school transfer policy undermines ongoing reform programs and disrupts the lives of students and teachers. Heavier sanctions required for schools that do not boost test scores have previously been shown to be counter-productive; (4) The requirement that limited English proficient students score "proficient" on English exams is self-contradictory, as is the provision that most children with special needs demonstrate competency in the same manner as other students; (5) Education is being damaged as students are coached to pass tests rather than taught a rich curriculum that will help prepare them for life in the 21st Century; and, (6) The federal government has failed to adequately fund the law.
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