The federal "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) education plan fails by its
own standards, according to a "Report Card" issued to mark Saturday's
third anniversary of President George Bush signing the controversial
plan into law. NCLB earned two grades of "F" for failing to stimulate
"Real Improvements in Educational Quality" and discouraging the use
of "High-Quality Assessments" on the scale used by the National
Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest). A grade of "D" was awarded
for the law's confusing and contradictory system of school
"Accountability" based on the arbitrary "adequate yearly progress"
requirement. Top grade on the Report Card, an "A-," came in the
category "Public Relations" with a comment noting the Bush
Administration's effort "to name and promote the law with
high-sounding rhetoric." The Administration earned a mixed grade of
"C" for "Focusing Attention on Children Left Behind" without
providing adequate resources to close learning gaps. The grades are
based on a detailed analysis of NCLB in FairTest's recent report
"Failing Our Children." FairTest and 32 other education, civil rights
and children's advocacy organizations recently sent Congress a joint
statement recommending more than a dozen changes to overhaul NCLB.
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