Ten years ago No Child Left Behind (NCLB) became law. Initiated by the Bush administration but passed with overwhelming bipartisan Congressional support, these educational reforms have focused some much needed attention on our education system, but have done so through actions that have divided the public, narrowed the curriculum, strained student and teacher relationships, and left the most serious problems unaddressed.
First, let’s look at the history: NCLB was modeled after a state version of school-based accountability that former Governor George W. Bush had created in 1994. Originally hailed as the “Texas miracle,” research later found that students who scored better on Texas-created tests could not do the same when tested through independent, nonpartisan measures. Nor did the “Texas miracle” serve to reduce the achievement gap for minority students.
Why was NCLB enacted when neither research nor facts bore out its success? By cherry-picking supportive information. For example, the 2000 Report of the National Reading Panel -- the purported gold standard research underpinning NCLB -- substantially distorted the conclusions of countless reading studies in order to maintain that NCLB was “research-based.” All contrary views of this research were excluded from Congressional hearings leading up to NCLB (Coles, 2003).
What are the worst things about NCLB? It sets up an accountability system that rewards the “successful” and punishes the “unsuccessful” based upon unreliable testing measures that, like the “Texas Miracle”, are highly questionable. Secondly, it makes the assumption that test-taking is equivalent to learning, or that, if we test children more frequently, they will learn more. This faulty logic wouldn’t pass muster in any other areas: would NCLB policy-makers prefer that mechanics test and test and test a car that isn't working rather than spend more time working on the car? Pressure to test takes away teachers’ time from teaching.
How does emphasis on testing play out in the classroom? Early childhood educators are told to rush children toward cognitive masteries they are not yet developmentally ready to achieve. Five year-olds are confined to their desks in “drill for skill” tactics, sapping the joy of learning and discovery right out of them. Kindergarten curriculum has invaded Pre-K classrooms and the 1st grade curriculum has largely moved to Kindergarten. Social studies, science, the arts, foreign languages, and other valued areas of study have been marginalized by NCLB’s exclusive focus on math and reading.
NCLB has created highly pressurized, anxiety-filled school environments where, because of test preparation needs, students are not able to explore their own questions about subject matter, and further, because of the testing regimen, kids are learning that mistakes are the worst things they can make. Focusing only on a right answer has costs: what are the implications of discouraging a whole generation’s capacity to ask a good question?
Although NCLB was touted to boost academic achievement, particularly for poor and minority students, the legislation has served other ends. One of the chief purposes has been to maintain a blindness toward poverty and classroom conditions that strongly influence academic success. Rather than promoting a well-trained, professionally competent teaching force and providing it with all that is required to ensure a rich education, NCLB has focused on scripted, “teacher-proof” programs linked to excessive testing.
Interestingly, none of the above is a plea against testing of any kind. The proper use of testing is for diagnostic purposes rather than for punitive purposes. Teachers and students should be evaluated with a broad set of measures that go well beyond what is counted in high-stakes tests. Since NCLB will probably not be reauthorized in an election year, now is the time for parents, teachers, and school leaders to insist on reform that leads to meaningful learning for all students. The solutions must address poverty, include educators’ and researchers’ insights, and broaden rather than narrow our children’s options.
Published in City Newspaper 2/28/12 under title 'NCLB hurts not helps', by Don Bartalo, Gerald Coles, Elizabeth Hallmark, Jack Langerak
