At first when I heard about No Child Left Behind, I thought it was a great idea because the government is stepping in to help make education better for all students. However, the chapter puts the act in a different light. All children are required to take a test have to pass or exceed the proficient level by 2014. There has never been such a short time period for the changes to occur before. And quite frankly, it seems impossible! Compared the status of our education system now, there is no way that each and every student and school will be able to achieve those standards. This just makes it harder for the teachers and the school management team because they are going to be the ones to blame if the students do not succeed. The reason being is because children do not know that there are these standards to fill – they just know that they have to pass a test, and for many, that’s not enough of an incentive to do well in school. The government seems to be implementing a really difficult standard for the public school system, which is why there has been word saying that NCLB is only there to benefit the privatized sectors.
In addition, the scores acquired could be forged to prove that schools are not doing as well as they are. This frightens me because the government is supposed to be the ones who are honorable and the people that citizens trust with politics. Faking the scores to show some information that the government wants to be true is completely and utterly unacceptable. The reason for school closures nowadays is because of low test scores, but after reading this chapter, it makes me question what is really happening behind closed doors. The people that get directly affected are the students and the teachers. The students will have to be put in alternative schools, which is obviously leading to overcrowding. The teachers are labeled as inadequate and the parents will get upset and it seems that everything goes back to the way the teacher is teaching. It seems that even after identifying the troubled schools, the government still hasn’t taken any effective action to better that school and the programs offered. NCLB seems to excessive and unnecessary. I find this to hold somewhat true. Schools that are already failing do not need more tests to verify that fact. The government seems to be spending money on tests, programs, and other types of regulations that are obviously not needed. That money is used the wrong way and students, teachers, and parents are suffering.
Even if the government were to implement a new way of testing or regulating school curriculum, how effective would it be? and would it even help the situation anymore than it is now?
