Smith, I do not understand this," says the fifth grader as he looks confused at the paper that lay in front of him. It may be hard to understand, but this is the sound that many teachers and even parents are hearing more often today. It is due to the "No Child Left Behind Act", which, contrary to its name, is leaving more children behind [Bla14][Moe14]. Due to this fact, the act should be thrown out. The act was brought about by the Bush administration and has since been a failure to many students nationwide, especially those who learn a little slower than other[Web12]. Through the years the results of the NCLB Act came back that children in the United States a 50/50 chance of learning and succeeding, however, soon those chances began to dwindle and the success of our children hung in the balance [Moe14]. Now, America as great nation is struggling to educate its future leaders and a greater alternative must be given. The NCLB act creates stressful school environments for schools by mandating that standardized testing weighs more than student work, increases paper work for the classroom teacher, and has shown few improvements in education overall.
Enacted in January 2002 under the Bush administration, the No Child Left Behind Act was enforced to make schools better by enacting the theories of standards-based education reform, which is based on the belief that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education [Moe14]. The Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills to be given to all students in certain grades, if those states are to receive federal funding for schools. The Act does not assert a national achievement standard; standards are set by each individual state [OBr13].
However, the plans of the Administration back fired. According to Bland, the first few years the act was enforced there was a significant increase in the number of nine-year-olds in reading, reading and math scores for black and Hispanic nine-year-olds, and achievement gaps in reading and math between white and black nine-year-olds and between white and Hispanic nine-year-olds are at an all-time low [Bla14] [OBr13].
