The No Child Left Behind Act is an attack on progressive, holistic education that replaces well-rounded liberal arts curricula with the push to teach students to achieve on standardized tests. The failure of No Child Left Behind has been profound, but its right wing defenders insist that the sacrifices have been worth it, and that the benefits would be shown in improved standardized test scores.
In many states, the response to No Child Left Behind’s requirements was to dumb down standardized tests, but not every test was vulnerable to such pressure. The SAT test, for example, measures the academic competence of students who are leaving K-12 educational programs for college, and so the people who make it have no motivation to lower the difficulty of the test in order to produce a false appearance of improvement.
During the 1990s, before the passage of No Child Left Behind, SAT scores were on the rise. Now that the No Child Left Behind Act has had a chance to impact the education of students across America, SAT scores are in decline. This year, scores on the reading, math and writing sections all fell.
Even by the questionable measure accepted by supporters of No Child Left Behind, standardized testing, the No Child Left Behind Act is hindering the educational achievement of American students. In 2008, we need to elect a President who will support a return to a more progressive mode of education for American children.
(Source: New York Newsday, August 29, 2007)
