Democratic Party Ninth District
Richard Krise

In 2002 President George Bush and the Republican Congress passed a bill to revise the federal role in public education. It was named the "No Child Left Behind" act (NCLB). This year the Congress is scheduled to re-authorize that bill, so it might be a good time to examine its affect on public education and student achievement so far.

The Good:

NCLB has forced public schools to adopt two practices that were not widespread prior to its passage. To use student achievement data to critically look at what students learn rather than what teachers teach, and to disaggregate student achievement data so that members of subgroups that are harder to teach cannot be masked or hidden behind overall achievement scores of the majority population of a school. The second practice is to have each state re-examine the core curriculum being taught by their schools to make sure it meets 21st Century standards.

The Bad

Some provisions of NCLB are simply bad. The premise that a school must be pressured into improving by ridiculing them with a label is bad.

Allowing successful students to transfer out of a school that is struggling to meet accountability standards is a bad idea. Comparing school systems using student performance on different tests which measure different standards is bad. Lastly, touting "teacher quality" by measuring content knowledge on a test ignores good pedagogy. Most adults can remember a high school teacher or a college professor who clearly knew the content, but couldn't teach.

The Ugly

Politics. Politics. Politics. The main shortcomings of NCLB are political, not pedagogical. The bill is supposed to improve schools and teaching, so what is the first consequence if a school does not meet the accountability goal? Offer school choice! Not tutoring for the students, better training for the teachers and administrators, or more parental influence in running the school, but a way for students to leave the struggling school. After five years under NCLB only 1 percent of students eligible to leave low performing schools do so. Why? Because most school systems don't have multiple middle or high schools, or the parents want their kids in local schools, not bussed across town. So, who leaves? Bright kids who were already doing very well in the school, but whose parents can now choose a charter or private school paid for by the taxpayers. That's politics, not pedagogy.

NCLB requires all states to implement a rigorous accountability system that measures student success in Reading, Language Arts, and Math. But each state develops its own test to measure student achievement. There can be no scientific basis for comparison when everyone studies different curriculum and measures student achievement with a different assessment tool. Why? Politics! The goal is to convince the American people that their schools are so bad they will accept a voucher system as a form of "school reform."

So, what is the truth? Can schools improve? Certainly! Are they doing a poor job?

Certainly not! American schools accept all students without exception and they teach them to high standards against almost impossible odds.

As long as NCLB seeks arbitrary measures that each student must reach each year, it will work against its stated goal: higher standards and success for all students.

Dr. Richard Krise is currently the School Improvement Coordinator at Pioneer RESA in Cleveland, Georgia. He joined the Pioneer RESA staff in 2004 after six years as a high school principal in two rural Georgia counties. Dr. Krise spent almost 30 years as a teacher, coach, and school administrator in Georgia's public schools. Dr. Krise has undergraduate degrees from Kennesaw College and Georgia State University. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Georgia in 1994.