Can Congress improve No Child Left Behind? Your Say
A group of senators has been working on revising the No Child Left Behind law, which President George W. Bush signed in 2002. Letter to the editor:
Paste BN's editorial on No Child Left Behind is well reasoned, even to the point of excluding Washington from managing schools, a wish not likely to come true ("Mend 'No Child' law, but don't end it: Our view").
There are two keys that cause continued frustration with NCLB. First, the notion of Congress "mending" a law is impractical. The congressional process calls for endless debate and accommodation. Second, once Washington occupies a space, taking over an issue, it doesn't give up that capture. Such is the case with education; Congress will never relent in its dealings on education.
Therefore, NCLB will not be effectively "mended." It might be superseded but not fixed.
Richard Klitzberg; Boca Raton, Fla.
Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:
How about letting a board of educators help legislators come up with a plan for our ailing public school system? This system of teacher pay and evaluation of effectiveness being based on tests is silly.
Some young students have no concept that they should try to do well on a test. They just want to be done and move on to something else. Older students are taught the information for the test, but not how to solve a problem or work through something to get a solution.
— Tammi Buchanan Butts
Maybe I'm being simplistic, but teachers unions are perhaps the biggest obstacle to quality education. It's almost impossible to fire a teacher.
Meaningful, measurable performance criteria for teachers don't exist. I cannot understand why teachers aren't measured on performance in cogent ways. The flaw with NCLB is that test scores are the measure. The cheating scandal involving Atlanta teachers clearly illustrates that method is like having a fox in the chicken coop. It's a conflict of interest.
— Michael Anthony Shea
How about looking at successful state programs to see what works and what doesn't before rewriting federal law?
— Elise Stevens
Also, I have noticed a trend in schools to make all students equal and not to hurt their feelings.
— William Sands
How about we stop babying students, and demand more and better from them? And let's get rid of those students who don't want to be in school and are making it more difficult to teach those who want to learn.
— Barry Levy