Is NCLB bill passed by Senate panel real or pseudo reform?

10-25-2011

Guest blog by Monty Neill/Washington Post

One thing we’ve learned from watching the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Committee wrestle with its bill that revamps the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known in its current form as No Child Left Behind, is that it seems much easier to change the rhetoric than the substantive details. Congress, for example, has clearly heard the message from administrators, teachers, students and parents who have grappled for years with the impact of of the standardized-test centric No Child Left Behind: that it has failed to drive real school improvement where it’s needed. Senators also recognized that the law mislabeled many good schools as failing. The result? It seems certain that Congress will eliminate the name “No Child Left Behind.” Unfortunately, despite intra- and inter-party disagreements, inside-the-Beltway politicians appear to remain wedded to NCLB’s failed approach to improving schools — massive over-testing and overreliance on test scores to judge schools. (more...)

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Is NCLB bill passed by Senate panel real or pseudo reform?

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