After 14 years, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has been changed by the Obama administration.
In 2001 NCLB was passed by the George W. Bush administration in an attempt to ensure that the education of Americans was the same across the nation. This act created standard-based education reforms that require states to give students standardized tests, such as SOL’s in Virginia.
These exams are designed to test the minimum knowledge needed by students in the subject area, but the lax requirements needed to pass these assessments has drawn criticism.
“I don’t think SOL’s do a good job of measuring student’s capabilities because they cater to the lowest denominator,” said junior Cole Bird. “More advanced classes focus on more advanced curriculum which isn’t tested by the SOL’s.”
Critics of the system claim that NCLB forces teachers to be less creative in their teaching styles as they modify lesson plans to cover the mandated standards of these tests. In proposed changes, there is a new push to stop standardized testing or at least to lessen the amount of testing required. Since the passage of NCLB, the United States has remained stagnant in international education rankings, ranking in the middle of a 34-country group, while countries located in East Asia have continually placed at the top. With an increase in testing this perturbed many people. Many people credit this to the increase of testing initiated by the NCLB.
“I wish that school was more focused on learning and not about passing a test,” said junior Rami Nabhan. “If teachers didn’t have to teach to a test than they could be more creative and make school more entertaining.”
To combat this, the Obama Administration is pushing legislation through Congress that will change the wording of NCLB. These changes are specifically targeting the way teachers are evaluated by administrators and decreasing the amount of standardized testing. As of now, there will be no effect on WS students or WS faculty.
“When you’re changing how you measure progress versus overall passing rate it can affect a school,” said Principal Mike Mukai. “Since WS is a school that has had so much success, there weren’t specific areas of focus where we were concerned about meeting the passing levels for NCLB.”
To meet the NCLB standards, FCPS created a set of performance standards. These seven categories are used by teachers and administrators to ensure that students are receiving a quality education. The most important of these standards is student academic progress which comprises 60% of teachers overall performance. This standard is defined as using “multiple measurements of student learning to set goals that are strategic and specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, time bound, and have rigor” (FCPS Teacher Self-Assessment).
“Although some schools who are not making their AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress] and are worried about specific annual measurable objects [may be] focused on maybe looking at specific things that they could do to improve those,” said Mukai. “But at WS you guys have such great teachers, and you guys are such great students, and you do so well that for us it’s always been about trying to do better every year.”