In 2001, then-president George W. Bush signed off on a federal act called No Child Left Behind was passed. This act set out to improve education standards by holding schools and teachers more accountable for academic objectives.
Focus on Test Material
Under this act, schools were required to implement standardized testing in math and reading for third through eighth grade and high school. The goal was to hold school districts more accountable for what their teachers taught in the classroom, streamlining math and reading, while closing the gaps across the United States concerning each grade level. What No Child Left Behind did, though, was encourage teachers to ‘teach to the test’ and leave out fundamental skills that students needed simply because they would not be on the test. This practice further ostracized students in the United States when compared to their counterparts.
The focus on maintaining strenuous expectations for retaining qualified professionals and the funding for state education became a huge burden for most districts across the nation. The fact that teachers became so focused on test-taking strategies and having to teach only the material on the test left many students behind in foundational skills, enduring student failure in basic components. No Child Left Behind also did not provide proper preparation for all learners, but instead tried to force students into cookie-cutter, ‘typical’ learners. The No Child Left Behind Act did not enhance learning for children with disabilities, nor did it allow for enrichment in the gifted students.
As with any educational act, No Child Left Behind had its successes and failures. The premise of the act sounded good in theory. Everyone wanted to see the students of the United States succeed. Yet the methodology by which this goal was attained was harsh. Qualified teachers lost their jobs because of test scores, some schools were shut down, and other schools lost funding. Although some students benefited from No Child Left Behind, many students struggled to retain information, thus hindering lifelong learning.
Restructured in 2015
According to Alyson Klein, in 2015, No Child Left Behind was replaced with the Every Student Succeeds Act. This act was supposed to give more independence to each state in developing education systems that work best in their demographics. However, the students who grew up in the No Child Left Behind era would struggle as young adults entering the workforce. All in all, the No Child Left Behind Act ended up causing more harm than good across the board.
