“Good Theory Poor Follow Through”

On paper when the United States adopted the No Child Left Behind policy, it looked terrific. It was a plan to make sure that every child received the same education, but it would not take long for the plan to show its major flaws. The program has only been in place for a little over five years and has no signs of improvement. After reviewing the facts and personally having to deal with the program I think it should be removed immediately.

The No Child Left Behind policy relies heavily on standardized test scores. According to an Education Research Newsletter, this is a very bad idea. With more students wanting to go to college, more of them are taking the SAT and Advance Placement classes. Since these are higher level courses students are not making as high of grades and in return it makes it look like they are not learning enough.

The policy really also leaves out the gifted students. They are not pushed and so they are no where close to reaching their full potential. According to the newsletter it states that every child is treated the same. It states “One-size-fits-all standards either dumb down instruction to the lowest common denominator or condemn low-ability students to frequent failure.” A student should be able to get a full education, but in order to do this a student must have good instruction and be pushed to new lengths.

Teachers’ jobs have become harder since the policy was put into place. If their students do not get good scores on tests then they are looked down upon; so, teachers are just showing children how to do well on these test and not giving them a solid education. I interviewed a high school teacher who said this was a major problem. She gives her students the best education she can give them. When her students took their standardized tests they scored higher than any class in our high school. She said that if the policy was removed and teachers were not so worried about educating on how to take a test that all grades would improve. She said “No Child Left Behind is a good theory with poor follow through.”

I personally feel that I received a better education in my elementary and junior high courses. When I was in the eighth grade my school put No Child in use. My grades started to struggle and I had to work twice as hard to get the same grades that I was making before. After seeing all angles of the policy I would strongly suggest terminating the program.

For more information go to http//:www.ernweb.com