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Signed into law in 2002, the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) promised to revolutionize American public education. Originally supported by a bipartisan coalition, it purports to improve public schools by enforcing a system of standards and accountability through high-stakes testing. Many people supported it originally, despite doubts, because of its promise especially to improve the way schools serve poor children. By making federal funding contingent on accepting a system of tests and sanctions, it is radically affecting the life of schools around the country.
But, argue the authors of this citizen's guide to the most important political issue in education, far from improving public schools and increasing the ability of the system to serve poor and minority children, the law is doing exactly the opposite. Here some of our most prominent, respected voices in education-including school innovator Deborah Meier, education activist Alfie Kohn, and founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools Theodore R. Sizer-come together to show us how, point by point, NCLB undermines the things it claims to improve:
* How NCLB punishes rather than helps poor and minority kids and their schools
* How NCLB helps further an agenda of privatization and an attack on public schools
* How the focus on testing and test preparation dumbs down classrooms
* And they put forward a richly articulated vision of alternatives.
Educators and parents around the country are feeling the harshly counterproductive effects of NCLB. This book is an essential guide to understanding what's wrong and where we should go from here.
| Introduction | ||
| Preamble : a reminder for Americans | ||
| 1 | From "separate but equal" to "no child left behind" : the collision of new standards and old inequalities | 3 |
| 2 | A view from the field : NCLB's effects on classrooms and schools | 33 |
| 3 | NCLB's selective vision of equality : some gaps count more than others | 53 |
| 4 | NCLB and democracy | 66 |
| 5 | NCLB and the effort to privatize public education | 79 |
| 6 | Leaving no child behind : overhauling NCLB | 101 |
Anonymous
Posted June 20, 2009
"Many Children Left Behind: How the No Child Left Behind Act is Damaging Our Children and Our Schools"--the title says it all. This is a compelling book. Parents, teachers, future teachers, professors, and graduate students (like me) should read this book and write your congressman. You will want to after reading this. An assembly of essays in language the layman can understand, but research-based for the educators, this is an easy and quick read. Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book, "The biggest problem with the NCLB Act is that it mistakes measuring schools for fixing them" (Darling-Hammond, p. 9). I want this on a bumper sticker.
It was a little disheartening that I found 8 typos, left out words, or grammatical errors in a book about education. And the book was edited by two principals! Nevertheless, the content of the book is excellent. I showed this book to my professor and he immediately wrote down the title and ISBN number so he could order it.
Overview
Signed into law in 2002, the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) promised to revolutionize American public education. Originally supported by a bipartisan coalition, it purports to improve public schools by enforcing a system of standards and accountability through high-stakes testing. Many people supported it originally, despite doubts, because of its promise especially to improve the way schools serve poor children. By making federal funding contingent on accepting a system of tests and sanctions, it is ...