ASCD November 2006 Volume 64 Number 3 NCLB Taking Stock Looking Forward Page 1 of 5 Pages 48 52 A Firsthand Look at NCLB How has No Child Left Behind NCLB affected you your students or your school Educational Leadership wanted to know so we asked readers to tell us their stories Some respondents question whether NCLB reflects the true purpose of education many bemoan the seeming necessity of having to teach to the test and others have surprising insights about how the law has led to November 2006 improvements in their schools For Want of a Lab In the rush to produce a standardized system of accountability NCLB has neglected to address the fundamental issue of equity This not only applies to socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicity but also to issues of facilities and education resources We live in one of the most prosperous nations in the world but I have taught in a science classroom that had no hot water or lab tables and no funding to purchase badly needed equipment If a student at one school has a well funded and well equipped science classroom and a student at another school has no lab tables or basic equipment to learn science effectively then how can we hold all students and teachers to the same standard Michael A Flake science teacher Indiana Making School Worthwhile I work with six socially alienated boys who are involved in a collaborative project in which they play the role of concerned citizens who see a need for a new school They must name the school create a mission statement and define the kind of staff needed to carry out the state curriculum One point in their mission statement was insightful They wrote Students will receive a quality education where learning is fun safe and worthwhile Their choice of vocabulary provided a lot of insight into how they currently view school To them school is not fun not safe from harassing people and not worthwhile NCLB is draining the fun out of learning Education has become about the test Students are not developing an appreciation for knowledge or learning and pressures to cover the standards by spring test dates stifle our creative teachers Even children see that there has to be just cause for productivity to occur If legislatures really care about children becoming productive citizens then the significant numbers are not in the test scores but in the unemployment rate the Medicaid enrollment levels the number of citizens on welfare and the incarceration rate What can we give our children so they value learning that leads to responsible citizenship In the words of six intelligent 5th grade boys we should provide learning that is fun safe and worthwhile Education is more than a test score it s about instilling a moral purpose that encompasses an http www ascd org portal site ascd template MAXIMIZE menuitem 459dee008f99653f 11 27 2006 ASCD Page 2 of 5 appreciation for lifelong learning and societal responsibility Terese C Benefield school counselor Georgia The Good The Bad NCLB has focused attention on subgroups that previously were often not the school s priority small groups of minorities children in special education and ESL students for example In the past only those heroic teachers who actually worked with the subgroups really cared Now principals counselors and mainstream teachers must all strive to help every child what schools should have been doing all along But NCLB has also narrowed the curriculum focused too much on testing created complicated accountability systems that the public doesn t understand and turned off lots of students By 2010 most schools in the United States will be under improvement and once again public education will take a hit despite the excellent work done under tough conditions with a continually changing student body Stephen E Schwartz former assistant superintendent Delaware Speaking as a Special Educator No one seems to remember that we have always had to set a bar to measure school and student achievement In the 1980s and 1990s it was Goals 2000 George Bush Sr and Bill Clinton with congressional backing devised a plan in which all students would graduate high school and be proficient readers by the year 2000 Guess what We didn t make it The accountability was less stringent but curriculum audits found that we needed to hone redevelop and enforce more consistent cohesive standards to better account for the disheveled U S public school system s failure to serve many of its students Standards based accountability and this stringent bipartisan piece of education legislation is a step in the right direction As a special educator I find the guidelines and curriculum standards equitable leveling the playing field for all students Special education is doing better under the strict regulations of NCLB and even with the legislation s problems it s a great step toward the end we wish to attain setting the next bar to measure our schools and students progress Robert Bassett special educator California A School Discredited NCLB has affected parents more than it has affected students Failure to meet its standards resulted in our school having to send a letter home to parents declaring our school a failure Along with three options offered to their children one of which was remaining at the failing school the letter included an array of confusing descriptions about the procedures and reasons for imposing NCLB sanctions Some parents ended up missing the deadline for submitting their signed form which indicated their preferred option either because they misunderstood or because their child failed to bring the letter home Adding to their confusion was the fact that our school had received an A on Florida s Comprehensive Assessment Test FCAT every year except for one Parents were shocked to learn that we had failed the state test enough times to affect our Title I funding That the state s FCAT program and NCLB didn t dovetail was no surprise to our teachers The resulting mismatch served to discredit both programs validity in many people s eyes Whether or not NCLB has succeeded in achieving its goals remains to be seen However the controversy it has created locally seems to be its most dramatic accomplishment Many educators see NCLB as a poor and ineffective attempt to cure achievement gaps that we know testing cannot cure Any accomplishments in that area are best gained by making meaningful changes in http www ascd org portal site ascd template MAXIMIZE menuitem 459dee008f99653f 11 27 2006 ASCD Page 3 of 5