The Sad Legacy of No Child Left Behind

Much of the No Child Left Behind law remains much in effect technically.  For those not aware with what the act is, much less its history, I strongly suggest you check this Wikipedia link.  It is a brilliant, detailed summary of the many pitfalls of this law.  The law was introduced and pushed through Congress during the early days of the George W. Bush administration.   This legislation definitely was the top priority of the Bush administration prior to the 9/11 attacks. 

I admit I am not an expert of this policy.  However, There is a key problem with the language of the law alone.  First, the act measures the academic achievement of a K-12 school primarly on standardized tests.  If a school does not achieve "Adequately Yearly Progress" in improving test scores each year, eventually that school in theory could be closed down or even run by a private company, which I will mention in my next blog.

The origins of the No Child Left Behind Act are definitely based in Texas, despite the initial bipartisan support the law enjoyed when passed in 2001.  A key behind the scenes creator was actually a Dallas Democrat, Sandy Kress, who served as DISD Board President and left just before I was first elected to the DISD school board in 1996.  Kress and the then-proposed education reforms of the first G.W. Bush presidential campaign was the topic of this 2000 profile in the Dallas Observer, but since then he has disappeared from public life entirely. 

In any case, as we know President George W. Bush was at (of all places ironically) an elementary school in Florida when the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center were ongoing.  With education reform no longer the central priority of the Bush administration, Federal education funding began to eventually decline. This lack of funding became the second major flaw with No Child Left Behind. 

I believe this is understandable primarly because of our nation was so hard hit and Bush had no choice whatsoever but to become a war president.  He had to make very unpopular decisions that would be unpopular regardless of anyone's political beliefs.  Perhaps, Bush wanted to bring real education reform to the country.  However, tragically he couldn't do what he wanted on education on the National level as a governor here in Texas. 

My Republican opponent will claim that the sole critics of No Child Left Behind are Democrats.  However, even some of the political appointees within the G.W. Bush administration, such as former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch have now gone publically on record (please see this NPR article) saying this law is a complete failure. She points out that No Left Child Behind has merely created a culture where the law's emphasis on test scores has created a culture of cheating and dishonesty.  In her opinion, the law has now created an environment nationally where true collaboration among educators is discouraged as whole schools are essentially forced to compete with one another.

It is quite simply a sad legacy for a major Federal law that has its origins here in Texas.  What happens here in Texas clearly does not stay in Texas.  The actions that the Texas State Board of Education and Legislature can have a profound, negative impact on education reform nationally.