As the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) comes under review, Congress is reconsidering the amount of power the federal government will retain over public schools. Since the program’s implementation during the Bush administration, it has been met with mixed reactions by states, schools, teachers and parents. Increased federal involvement came predominantly in the form of standardized tests, the results of which are used to sanction schools and teachers based on performance. While scores have improved for elementary and middle school students, there is no clear data that suggests that NCLB is the cause, and the program is criticized for forcing teachers to spend a disproportionate amount of time on test preparation.
One purely positive result of testing is the abundance of data it’s produced that reveals disparities in achievement between different racial and socioeconomic groups. This data is currently used to hold the school itself — the teachers and administration — accountable for its students’ inability to achieve “adequate yearly progress.” Teachers may be fired, and schools may be closed. How, when data reveals that performance is dependent on race and economic status, do we continue to place full responsibility on schools?
The data collected from tests has proven extremely valuable in locating the issues that contribute to the achievement gap. However, the federal government has mishandled the information. There are big, structural forces at work that maintain achievement gaps. If the federal government wants to be accountable for public education, it should actually hold itself accountable. Low-tier schools cannot improve themselves without adequate funding.
As property taxes determine the funding of public schools, low-income neighborhoods will inevitably have poorer schools. The more single-parent households in a community, the greater the challenge for student success. Overcoming poverty is obviously not a short-term goal, but it is unfair to target teachers and administration as the problem. The data collected from tests should be used to allocate funds and attention, not to punish schools.
With their fates independent of their students’ performances, teachers will better serve their students. Reading and math, which are the only subjects emphasized in NCLB and the Obama administration’s Common Core, will remain important but will not be the only subjects given careful and thoughtful attention in classrooms. Teachers will regain academic freedom with the reassurance that the federal government is helping to aid student success outside of the classroom.