Commentary on Lily Streiff's No Child Left Behind Article

                A controversial and much ridiculed subject in schools across America today is the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).  As a largely under-funded mandate laid down by the federal government NCLB has placed more demands on a strained educational system without providing sufficient funds to implement it properly.  In her article commenting on NCLB (Government According to Lily)  Lily Streiff makes some important observations on the positives and shortfalls of the program. 

                Ms. Streiff likes the premise behind the program and I agree with her.  It is hard to argue that something intended to improve the education of children is not worthwhile.  The program’s intent is to improve the American education system by increasing the standards for students and teachers.  More qualified teachers should be able to create an environment where students can thrive.  Thriving students should learn and understand more.  To show growth of students and the effectiveness of teaching there needs to be something to measure.  Standardized testing of subjects gives the government something to measure to ensure the program is working.  This is supposed to create greater accountability.

                Greater progress through accountability sounds great but Ms. Streiff makes a great point, “Because of the standardized tests, teachers focus so much on the subjects on the test the students miss out on other aspects of learning and are forced to put all their efforts on a single test.”  Too much emphasis and importance is placed on the tests and it affects the whole school system.  There is no motivation for a teacher to dive deep into a subject that interests their students if they are punished for student performance on a test that does not include such detail.  Students are deprived of deep, enriching lessons that create greater interest and engagement simply because it won’t be tested. 

            While well intentioned, NCLB is not adequately funded to achieve goals that are themselves flawed.  No Child Left Behind has unfortunately created an atmosphere and philosophy that may leave all our children behind.