No Child Left Behind

In class last week, we discussed the history of educational reform in the United States, leading up to No Child Left Behind. One of the most interesting aspects of the conversation was when we discussed the reasons behind most of these reforms. It seems that major shifts in educational policy follow a radical cultural change or event: from the Emancipation of the slaves to the civil rights movement, the launch of Sputnik, the Space Race and the Cold War, to the Vietnam War and beyond, educational reform has been very reactionary. At the same time, many reforms have sprung out of a need to prepare students for the future, and, to be frank, to help them get better jobs.

Unfortunately, it seems as if the focus of these reforms is not where it should be. The issue here tends to be one of political and global power, rather than for the enhancement of education: how can we compete with other, more technologically advanced nations? The answer to this question has overwhelmingly been to provide more science, math, reading, and technology in schools, at the expense of everything else. While any effort to better our educational systems is certainly good for the country, we need to reexamine our intentions and the ramifications of these reforms.

It seems as though these reforms have been redundant, implementing the same methods and “answers” without much success. That raises the question of how this is possible – How can public policy makers not see that these methods don’t work? How have they been allowed to perpetuate these failures? Why are they so hesitant to try new ideas, and why haven’t we demanded more from them?

In 1983, when A Nation at Risk was published, the idea of who should be held accountable for the shortcomings of the public education system was brought forth. The National Commission on Excellence in Education (NCEE) found it to be a collective societal problem, one in which everyone was to blame – teachers, administrators, parents, legislators, politicians, etc. However, when Ronald Reagan adopted the publication’s stance, he shifted the blame to the teachers alone, resulting in reforms and stricter regulations for teachers. Still, this didn’t tackle all the issues at hand, letting all other accountable parties off the hook for the time being.

Maybe it’s time to forget NCLB (aka The Texas Miracle, aka Goals 2000, aka America 2000). Maybe it’s time for the policy makers to be held accountable and maybe it’s time for the next generation of policy makers to step in and make the changes that need to be made. While NCLB undoubtedly had some great ideas and good intentions, it hasn’t really worked in practice; we need realistic goals and a way to successfully carry them out.