Leave Behind No Child Left Behind?

This is a review of a statement presented by U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings on March 18th 2008. A large portion of the speech consisted of thanking various people for being there and an artfully arranged manner of coming to the point of the speech. As all statements given by government officials it was well thought out and worded and full of a lot of unnecessary and useless information and small talk. However, there were some very interesting and important ideas throughout it and so I will highlight on those.

One of the most interesting quotes from the statement was,

“Upon taking office, I immediately pledged to address three issues that educators were raising: measuring individual student growth over time, improving assessment and instruction for students with limited English skills and addressing the needs of special education students. Together, we have made progress on all three issues.”

I was interested and slightly appalled by this statement. I want to know where the Secretary has been as papers, magazines, blogs, politicians, teachers, and students have been shouting out the faults of the act to everyone that would listen. Now anyone who has read my blogs so far will know that I do not like the NCLB Act and what it has done to the education system of this country, and everyone knows that the governmental units that implemented the act will defend it until the bitter end. However, this is in my opinion a new form of ignorance in a very frightening place.

Students are not “sliding through the cracks” they are being shoved off in droves, as my last blog on drop out rates shows. The Secretary did acknowledge the challenge of trying to determine progress by numbers, for which I commend her, but she seems to think that the NCLB Act has done a great deal of good. Despite the alarming increase in drop out rates and the constant struggle schools face trying to keep kids ready for their next set of testing, Spelling believes they have helped with the act more than they have done damage.

As the headline suggests, Spelling was introducing a new program under the NCLB Act that they believe will help the law become more maneuverable. However, based on the little amount of information that Spelling gave during the speech, all the new program appears to be is a way of defining the difference between passing and failing schools in states where there is some amount of uncertainty.

A new program to help tell schools that they are failing. Are they serious? I have never been a fan of the act or the administration that put it through with so little thought and effort in looking into the likely consequences, but this appears to be a new low in terms of denial by the administration. I can only hope that whoever is elected in the upcoming political elections will hold the act accountable and in turn be held accountable for their own actions and legislation.

Full Transcript