nclb

Wow. You have asked the million dollar question! As you can imagine, there is a great deal of debate and controversy as to whether NCLB has been "successful." I think that most expert agree that NCLB has been effective in some ways and very problematic in others. Thus, most educators believe that NCLB needs to be revised.
 
Most experts agree that NCLB has been very useful for understanding the racial and economic achievement gap between students. We now have hard evidence and a mountain of statistics that verify the fact that students of color and students coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are not scoring as well on standardized tests in comparison to their more advantaged peers. This evidence has activated the administration and more energy is being directed toward eradicating this gap.
 
On the other hand, most experts say that NCLB is ineffective because of the reliance on standardized tests. Many educators believe that standardized tests are not the most effective way of measuring what students know. Further, many say that the curriculum standards put forth by many states are more tied to the test that to a meaningful understanding of the information. Thus, students are often taught a discrete number of facts that will help them on the test, not in life.
 
However, there are a variety of perspectives on how to change NCLB. NCLB is currently up for renewal, so stay tuned!
 
For more on NCLB, see the following section of this website:
http://www.education.com/reference/topic/StandardsAndTesting_NoChildLeftBehind/
 
 
L. Compian, Ph.D.
Education.com Team

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