Post 138: The Ineffectiveness of No Child Left Behind

Post 138: The Ineffectiveness of No Child Left Behind

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was the main law for K–12 general education in the United States from 2002–2015. The law held schools accountable for how kids learned and achieved. The law was controversial in part because it penalized schools that didn't show improvement. The goal of the law is that all students will score at the "proficient" level in reading and math by 2014. States set annual targets for the percentage of students scoring proficient with the final goal of 100% proficiency by 2014. Each year, students in every subgroup must reach the targe

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a US law passed in December 2015 that governs the United States K–12 public education policy. The law replaced its predecessor, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and modified but did not eliminate provisions relating to the periodic standardized tests given to students.

As for me, I am not a fan of standardized testing. I believe that when we teach kids, we want to teach them to use higher order thinking. Higher order thinking is not achieved when teachers are forced to teach to the test. Standardized testing only tests lower order thinking of memorization of facts and figures. Students spend time memorizing facts that do not require higher order thinking. Once the test is taken , the facts are forgotten.

What is lower order thinking?

Lower order thinking is any kind of learning that involves rote memorization and then you regurgitate these facts on a multiple choice/matching kind of test. Teachers teach to the test by telling students what facts to memorize, how to take a standardized tests and teachers have to get the students to get high scores on these tests so that the school gets federal funding and the teacher gets to keep their job. I do not think standardized tests accurately reflect student learning, and teachers waste precious school time teaching to those tests.

What is higher order thinking?

Higher order thinking is any kind of learning where students apply what they learn to their lives. Higher order learning requires a more hands-on Discovery/Inquiry method of learning where students analyze, compare/contrast, synthesize, encode what they learn. Students do web projects, write papers, grade each other's papers, go on class trips, to inspire higher order thinking. When students do web projects, make presentations, engage in debates/discussions, then students are better able to construct their own knowledge base, and learn to apply what they learn in the classroom to their lives so that years from now, students can still apply their skills and pass those skills to their children. 

Do you remember the facts you had to learn for your Reading/Math Standardized tests, or do you remember the fun class trip, presentation, debate you engaged in when you were in elementary/middle/ or high school?