What People Say?Different people with different perspectives

The federal legislation NO Child Left behind or NCLB was based on the assumption that by establishing measurable goals and setting high standards, the individual outcomes in school education can be improved to a great extent. This Act was against a single national standard for education. Instead, it had individual standards for states.

Test-and-Punish approach of the No Child Left Behind Act was based on the one-size-fits-all concept. No wonder it failed miserably. Reducing education to nothing more than test preparation programs, after all, would do no good to children. Based on irrational concepts, the NCLB could not even get proper funding.

Let us discuss the impractical aspects of No Child Left Behind Act that led to its widespread criticism and much expected failure.

False Assumptions

It was totally foolish to believe that all public schools across the nation would have the same set of issues, and that a single solution would attend to all those issues.

Too much focus on Improving Test Scores

The No Child Left Behind Act was too obsessed with raising the test scores of children across the public schools in the US. NCLB was least concerned with the actual needs of children. Pressure to achieve the expected targets in tests resulted in schools pressurizing children to prepare ‘hard’ for their exams. The NCLB reduced the whole education system to a memorize-and-vomit system. It did not think at all that children do not become responsible citizens by mugging up concepts given in their text books.

Proficiency in Standardized Tests

The Act in question even expected the disabled students and children having limited English proficiency to perform exceptionally well in standardized tests. The No Child Left Behind Act looked for some magical solution to make all the students perform well. Standardized multiple choice questions might be good for post-college entrance exams, but they certainly fail to reason why a child thinks in a particular way. Numerical scores, singlehandedly cannot decide the fate if a student.

As a result of this many schools had to drive out students as they failed to match the baseless expectations set by the Act.

Uneven Transfer of Provisions

While some schools received generous funds to improve the education system, hundreds others were still crying for funds. Moreover, the schools that received generous funds were not always properly equipped to utilize the funds in the right way.

Paucity of Teachers

Many good teachers left schools as they were not happy with the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. Responsible teachers were against the test-and-punish approach. They just could not allow their conscience to implement the harsh principles of NCLB to innocent children. As a result, schools had to look out for quality teachers

Education is not all about remembering what is given in text books. Exams surely judge us, but they cannot have the final say in the progress of a child. Education is a lifetime process. Forcing children to get good marks is not the right approach, even scientifically. NCLB actually turned into ACLB (All Children Left Behind). The harm done by NCLB can be treated only with active involvement of parents and teachers. And for God sake, stop making education a political affair.

The Author brings over 6 years of e-learning and online tutoring experience. Having a deep understanding of pedagogy and child psychology, the writer has developed numerous strategies to improve e-learning and online tutoring for Grades K-12 and higher through various techniques that question the conventional ways of instructing.

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