No Child Left Behind

I just read the New York Times article on the large number of schools that could not reach their No Child Left Behind target improvement goals this year. When I entered the program at Saint Peter's this summer I knew about NCLB through what I had heard in the media over the past several years. To me it sounded like a great law that would make huge improvements in our nation's educational system. Now through my coursework here I have learned a lot more about NCLB and how it works and I have to say my opinion has greatly changed. Of course I would love to see every student in America graduate high school and be able to read fluently and have strong math and science skills. Though now that I understand the true magnitude and challenges of that task I have accepted that it is a noble, but impossible, goal. My real issue with the law is that it expects 100 percent success with 100 percent of the students, not taking into account that some students may have more challenges than others. It also expects that these goals can be reached by all schools in the same amount of time not taking into account the circumstances of the individual schools. It is not fair to expect a poor urban minority school who's learners start out well below compliance level to reach perfection in the same amount of time it takes a white middle class suburban school where most of the learners are already at or near compliance level. It is also not fair to compare a school with almost no students with learning disabilities to a school with a large population of students with severe disabilities. I do, however, agree with the portion of the law that requires measurable improvement every year in test results. Though it also does not seem fair that since states choose their own tests the true level of achievement varies greatly across the nation. A state with an easy exam could boast 90 percent compliance, however if those students took another state's exam they might only be at 20 percent compliance. For No Child Left Behind to truly work I believe the law would need to be greatly revised. First, I think there needs to be one nationally accepted series of exams to measure progress. This will level the playing field and assure that every student would have the same minimum level of skills based on their grade level regardless of what state they live in. This would make NCLB comparisons more fair and the skills assessed more uniform and accurate. Colleges could also be sure that all high school seniors possess at least the same level of basic skills no matter where they are from. Since teaching and the curriculum often becomes aligned to the test in order to improve scores this would make education throughout the country more uniform in general. The second major revision to No Child Left Behind that would be necessary for success is for the government to rethink the yearly progress indicators and the final goal. As the article stated no schools, no matter how good, have been able to improve their test scores more then three or four percent per year. The problem discussed in the article was that California wanted an eleven percent improvement over last year which was largely unreachable for it's schools. NCLB would have more success if it required national improvement of three percent a year for all schools in all states. The final goal of NCLB should also be reduced from 100 percent to 85 or 90 percent compliance by 2014. The final goal may also be assigned individually considering each schools unique population distribution. It is not reasonable to compare a school with ten students with minor learning disabilities to a school with 100 students with severe mental disabilities. If the tests are standardized nationwide and the standards on yearly progress indicators and final outcomes are adjusted I believe in a few years time it will overall greatly reduce the number of failing schools. This will help identify schools that truly need radical overhauls, not just minor adjustments, and allow them to get the help they need. With my proposed suggestions I feel that No Child Left Behind can become an important and successful piece of legislation that greatly improves the education of all students throughout the country.