No Child Left Behind Act Pros And Cons

Over the years there has been an Act authorized to help provide better educational opportunities and support to children of lower income families and disabilities. As of 1965, it was known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and it allowed federal spending on K-12 school programs. In 2001, the act was revised and called No Child Left Behind (NCLB), but did not take effect till 2002. The No Child Left Behind Act requires states to test students annually on math and reading starting in third grade. The schools must also hire teachers that are highly qualified to teach the core classes and the state must send annual report cards to schools based on the performance of students on the standardized tests. For the schools receiving Title I funds, used to improve academic programs for students of lower income families, they must meet the adequate yearly progress goals for the entire student body as well as, specific minority groups that were set by the states.

Teachers began to revolve their curriculum on the exam instead of teaching students critical thinking skills and having personally relevant curriculums. Educators who taught music, science, and social studies had fewer resources and were given little importance. Students became robots learning tactics to beat the system. On the other hand people said that testing scores increased since the revision of the act. However, people dispute that test scores of minorities fluctuating because schools edged students to miss exam days. Another problem that arose, was the standards across the nation of what score was an adequate sign of progress, since every state was allowed to set their efficiency standard. When it came to comparing scores from different states, there were different goals set to be