The No Child Left Behind Act

Everyone would like to see "no child left behind." But NCLB is a "test and punish" law, not a school improvement plan. It uses achievement gaps to label schools as "failures" without providing the resources or strategies needed to eliminate them. Federal education policy should support public schools, not undermine them.

Rethinking Schools has covered NCLB extensively. Below are articles on NCLB's misuse of standardized tests, inadequate funding, impact on English language learners, privatizing sanctions and much more. For ongoing analysis of NCLB, subscribe to Rethinking Schools.

• Band-Aids or Bulldozers
  By Stan Karp. The No Child Left Behind Act comes up for renewal next year against a backdrop of growing opposition. A look at the issues and stakes involved.

• Small is Volatile
  By Wayne Au. NCLB can mean big problems
  for small schools

• Leaving Children Behind
  Edited by Angela Valenzuela, this collection takes a detailed look at the impact of Texas' accountability system on its Latino population. Reviewed by Wayne Au.

• Closing the Door on Our Kids
  By Wayne Au. NCLB asks schools to do more with less.

• No Child Left Untested: Testing Tots
  by Richard Rothstein. Even 4-year-olds are being subjected to inappropriate assessment, and lots of it.

• Testing Companies Mine for Gold
  By Barbara Miner. The Bush testing craze has test makers raking in the green with almost no questions asked.

• The No Child Left Behind Test | PDF (116k)
  By Stan Karp. Since today's education policymakers seem to love this format, Rethinking Schools presents a multiple-choice test on NCLB that unlike most multiple choice tests, this one has some educational value.

• Leaving Children Behind
  By Micaela Rubalcava. At first glance this elementary school would make a great ad for the No Child Left Behind act. But beneath the orderly classrooms and good test scores, the author senses great tension among the kids. At recess, students share insights about what NCLB is doing to them, and what makes school meaningful.

• The NCLB Zone
  Wayne Au takes a trip to a strange world -- this one, unfortunately -- where "highly qualified" can mean low-quality teaching.

• Radio Debate: The No Child Left Behind Act
  The National Public Radio show "Justice Talking" recently featured a debate on NCLB between Rethinking Schools editor Stan Karp and undersecretary of education Eugene Hickok. Click here to listen to the 60-minute broadcast. (You'll need RealPlayer software to listen to the file: It's available for free at www.real.com)

• The No Child Left Behind Hoax
  Text of a talk about NCLB delivered by RS editor Stan Karp at a meeting sponsored by the Portland Area Rethinking Schools group in Oregon on Nov 7, 2003. Also available as a pdf file (74 kb) and as a Word file.

• Houston's "Zero Dropout" Miracle
  By Michael Winerip. Texas schools are under pressure to calculate their dropout numbers Enron-style. New York Times education columnist Michael Winerip takes a closer look.

• Blowing the Whistle on the Texas Miracle
  An Interview with Robert Kimball by Catherine Capellaro. Rethinking Schools' managing editor interviews the man who shined a spotlight on the dropout scandal in Houston. A former dropout himself, Kimball describes the retaliation he has suffered for poking holes in empty education reforms, and describes his continuing battle against institutional racism in education.

• Taming the Beast
  By Stan Karp
  What's the right funding level for a bad law? Examines the debate over funding for NCLB.

• Some Gaps Count More Than Others
  By Stan Karp. Not all inequality bothers supporters of NCLB

• Seed Money for Conservatives
  By Barbara Miner. How the Dept. of Education uses NCLB to fund rightwing groups and voucher campaigns.

• NCLB: Don't Mourn, Organize
  By Monty Neill. No Child Left Behind is leaving a sour taste in the mouths of many. However, there are ways to make lemonade from NCLB lemons.

• Why the Right Hates Public Education
  By Barbara Miner. Barbara Miner reveals a political agenda that far supercedes the idea of "choice."

• Captives of the Script: Killing Us Softly with Phonics By Richard J. Meyer: Scripted phonics programs hold students and teachers as curriculum hostages.

• Learning to Read and the W Principle' By Gerald Coles: Force-feeding direct instruction to poor kids won't help them learn to read.

• Three background articles by Rethinking Schools editor Stan Karp on the development of the Bush education plan:
  Let Them Eat Tests, Bush Plan Fails Schools and Bush's dubious team of education advisors

• Testing Our Sanity
  By Kelley Dawson. A bilingual teacher speaks out.

• Equity claims for NCLB don't pass the test.
  By Stan Karp. Examines claims that NCLB helps poor schools & parents.

• Testing reigns in Britain — but resistance is growing.
  By Bob Peterson.

• How NCLB is leaving English-language learners behind.
  By Bob Peterson.

• A critique of Bush's plan by Barbara Miner, by then-managing editor of Rethinking Schools, which was published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

• A collection of articles & resources on the problems with school vouchers.

• Excerpts from "Failing Our Kids," a Rethinking Schools book that explains how an over-reliance on standardized testing dumbs down our schools and shortchanges students, particularly students of color and those from low-income families.

• "Learning to Read Scientifically," by Gerald Coles. Bush has called for "scientifically based" reading instruction, but what does he really mean by that? A close-up look at the commander in chief's "fuzzy science" when it comes to teaching kids to read. (Originally published in the Summer 2001 issue of the journal.)

• "Bush's Bad Idea for Bilingual Education," by Stephen Krashen. The president wants a three-year limit for non-English speakers to attain "English fluency." Here's why that's a big mistake. (Originally published in the Summer 2001 issue of the journal.)

• "Vouchers, Accountability, and Money -- A Rethinking Schools Editorial." Voucher backers are ignoring key lessons from Milwaukee's voucher experience, including higher tax burdens and less accountability for academic achievement. (Originally published in the Summer 2001 issue of the journal.)

You can also download the Bush plan in PDF format and read it for yourself. The file is 1.8 megabytes. If you need the Acrobat Reader, click here.