No Child Left Behind Act Pros And Cons

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, is a United States Act of Congress that is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the government's flagship aid program for disadvantaged students. Since the No Child Left Behind law took effect in 2002, it has had a sweeping impact on U.S. public school classrooms. It affects what students are taught, the tests they take, the training of their teachers and the way money is spent on education. Debate rages over whether the law is an effective way to improve academic achievement. Congress was scheduled to decide whether to renew it in 2007. But efforts stalled amid criticism of the law from both Democrats and Republicans, and arguments over how to change it. "What the No Child Left

There is little doubt, however, that by providing a wealth of new information about the performance of students against state standards, NCLB has shined a light on ethnic and racial disparities in achievement in both urban and suburban schools, while creating new pressure for reform and innovation. The law has thus maintained the support of the Education Trust, the Council of Great City Schools, the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights, and other respected advocates for disadvantaged students from across the political spectrum. "What the No Child Left Behind Law Means for Your Child." Great Kids. GreatSchools Staff, n.d. Web. 25 Nov.

Since the money is offered to states as a grant-in-aid, states are free to turn it down if they dislike the strings attached, or claims that the law is underfunded also fail on the merits. As the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office has shown, test-based accountability is an intrinsically inexpensive reform strategy. Nationwide, cost estimates run as low as $9 per student, on average, for the type of tests currently used, and nearly all independent estimates of the costs of testing come to less than $50 per student out of the roughly $10,000 per student currently being spent on their education. Nor have the law's provisions requiring that students in persistently failing schools be offered public school choice and supplemental services yet placed much of a fiscal burden on states and school districts. West, Martin R. "No Child Left Behind: How To Give It a Passing Grade." Brookings. Brookings Institutuion, 2015. Web. 20 Nov.