The Inevitable Demise of No Child Left Behind

The Inevitable Demise of No Child Left Behind As a result of No Child Left Behind, the only requirement for teaching now, is the ability to “teach to the test.” There are many passionate teachers who have been educated, ready, and able to educate our children, but their hands are tied. In 2002, former President, George W. Bush, signed into law, The No Child Left Behind Act. The law was developed to get the children in our country on the same level as children in other countries, such as China, by 2014. The time has come to strike this law from the books and find some other means of repairing our broken education system. “Bail Out of “No Child” law” published by Virginian Pilot on February 10, 2012, reports that President Obama has done just that, allowing 10 states to exempt themselves from several of the most stringent parts of the law. The article gives several reasons why The No Child Left Behind Act is such a dismal failure. FACT: After ten years of No Child Left Behind, our children are still in the same place, if not further behind, in education. Congress unwillingness to revise this law has prompted individual states to take matters into their own hands. The President said he was “acting because Congress had failed” many times to update the No Child left behind law. There have been years of irrefutable evidence the law is a dismal failure and there is no way the goal set for 2014 can be met. I believe the intentions of the law were sound; however, the implementation was flawed. The unrealistic expectations and harsh penalties are part of the root of its demise. Ten states (Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee are the first states to “bail out” of the No Child law. Virginia is expected to follow suit, with possibly 20 other states to follow this year. This blessing did not come easy. Each of these states is required to submit its own plan, detailing the ways it will evaluate

Cited: Burke, Lindsey. “No Child Left Behind by Executive Overreach.” The Heritage Foundation. n.d Format. Web. 26 March 2012. Burke. Lindsey. “Rewriting No Child With Waivers and Conditions” The Heritage Foundation n.d. Web. 26 March 2012. “ George W. Bush on Education” On the Issues.org. n.p. On the Issues. Web 24 April 2012