10 Years Later and Still Left Behind

10 Years Later and Still Left Behind

In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act passed into law, mandating annual testing for public schools to ensure that every child received an equal education. Although the law was created with the best of intentions, many debate the use of standardized testing as an accurate way to determine a student’?s knowledge and a schools value. Many believe that the testing has improved the quality of American education by creating data that the government is able to use to rate the success of a school and the areas that it needs to improve. Others however, feel that testing has had negative effects on the education that children receive. Many studies have shown that there has been little improvement in math and reading and that many teachers have resorted to teaching the test. There has also been considerable debate concerning the cost of testing which many believe to be the reason that schools have been forced to cut programs and eliminate teaching positions so that they are able to meet the government’?s standards. Others have also claimed that the testing is biased and does not produce accurate data to measure the education that a student is receiving. After 10 years, the majority of the results show that No Child Left Behind has yet to improve the education that American children deserve and in many ways has harmed it.

The No Child Left Behind Act necessitates testing in math and reading on a yearly basis for public elementary and middle school children. According to Thomas Dee, an associate professor of economics at Swarthmore College, and Brian Jacob, a professor of education policy and economics at the University of Michigan, a study performed on 4th grade and 8th grade students showed moderate improvement in math and little improvement in reading. The 4th grade students showed a 10% proficiency increase in math and the 8th grade students showed a 6% improvement. In reading, each grade showed less than a 2% proficiency increase....