More Children Left Behind

In January 2002, President Bush signed into law, a bill that sets accountability higher for public school educators. The effort is to improve student performance and maintain a minimum level of achievement for all Americans as they graduate from high school. A benefit will be lower dropout rates, a more highly qualified workforce, and a more competitive economy in this ever increasing global economy.

Although this is a lofty goal, and on the surface, one worth striving for, it can not be attained in the manner in which the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law requires. According to the law, the way of measuring these goals is to test students again, and again, and again. These tests MUST be given within a set "testing window" (limited period of time to administer the test and any make-ups). But any educator knows, a student's performance on a standardized test is not an accurate indicator of their understanding of a set of curricula. In addition, where is the time for testing coming from? More time for testing means less time for instruction on the subjects and material that the students MUST be tested on.

Another concern with this approach is actually how many students ARE being left behind? As the rigors of testing increases the pace and intensity of instruction also increases. What happens to those students who before had a difficult time keeping up? These students on the margin increasingly fall in the cracks during normal instruction time. When this happens, teachers who are dedicated to their profession and their students (which they were BEFORE NCLB) are committing more of their own time to these students in afterschool and before school review/remediation sessions. Why? In the name of higher test scores, not in the name of improving the character and consitution of the student. The cost to the teacher is often the amount of time they have to spend with and support their children in their educational endeavors, thus creating more children on the margin.

But what is really keeping these students on the margin? Here is the major shortfall of NCLB.

Students normally referred to as being "on the margin" (or in danger of failing) are those who come from homes with less family support. Perhaps it is a single parent home, or home where both parents must work long hours or "3rd shfits" in order to make ends meet. The real failure in the education system is NOT the accountablility of the schools and teachers, it is the lack of accountablility on the family. The target of NCLB should not be the hardworking and dedicated teachers, it should be the family. The current economic structure of the United States does not make it possible for many segments of the population to get ahead to a point where they can afford the time to give the adequate support the children need to be successful at school. In this case, a parent must weigh the costs of providing food and shelter for their family against providing academic support for their family. When it comes down to it, in the most basic economic sense, food and shelter, as necessities, take precedence over education. When a parent has to make that decision, society has let that family down. The children of these households often find that they must spend a good deal of their own time, not on school and studies, but on taking care of younger siblings while the parents are at work trying to make ends meet. These are the students that need to be targeted by NCLB, and not at school. These children have been left behind by society and a system that allows it to continue.

How can we help these families? Do we tell them that their church or religious institution is the answer? If so, how can we make them accountable? Should government programs be the cure? Does that mean hold politicians accountable? Where does this end? In truth, we should ALL be accountable for each other. It is our society, ALL of us together. It is in the condition it is in because we allowed it to happen. If it is going to be fixed, it will be everyone's responsibility. And when that happens, we will not need to test students for every little thing, we will not have to worry about a student who is on the margin because of a lack of family support. The schools will be able to focus their attention on educating the students, not teaching a narrow curriculum. We will teach students, not courses. And in the end, we ALL will benefit.