No Child Left Behind Update

http://www.fairtest.org/nclb-after-six-years

I came across this article about the six year update of the effects of NCLB. In the article it states that NCLB “relies on limited, one-size-fits-all tools that reduce education to little more than test prep.” I remember in one of the books we discussed this semester (sorry I can’t remember which one), we talked about how sometimes you have to change your teaching methods to meet the needs of certain students. With all the testing in schools right now, the districts want the scores on the tests to reflect well on their schools. As the article states, sometimes the curriculum is lessened just to teach what is going to be on the standardized tests. The students are not being fully prepared to what they may need to know to succeed at higher levels of schooling. Another interesting point in the article is that there are other factors that play into why children really are left behind such as the basic needs of living arrangements and health of the children. I know that we discussed with Dewey about knowing the children’s backgrounds to help us better teach what is best for them. I know that the idea of NCLB was to benefit the maximum amount, but sometimes it hurts those that are already succeeding. It may be good for the schools in the short run, but has it really done a lot of good for the students in the long run?