No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Molly Murphy 16 November 2014
What is the reform years existed?
Positive Aspects
All students, regardless of socioeconomic status, race or disability, should be expected to meet common standards that challenge them to acquire content and skills that are more than just minimum requirements.
Standardized testing is the best alternative for comparing student performance across different education systems because human judgment is error-prone.
Negative Aspects
By imposing standards on students’ minds we are, in effect, depriving them of their fundamental intellectual freedom by applying one standard set of knowledge.
Standardized tests measure little more than socioeconomic status, and teachers and administrators should not be held responsible for that or should a fourth-grade teacher be held accountable for her students’ test scores when those scores reflect all that has happened to the children before.