School Beat: NCLB and Dr. Pangloss’ WorldLisa Schiffbyline‚ Nov. 29‚ 2007No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the country’s most recent version of our Federal education legislation has been called many things, from a tough-love policy that will right educational wrongs for traditionally underserved students to a grossly misguided set of punitive mandates that severely limit education while benefiting the private education testing and text-book sector. As NCLB is due to be both modified and reauthorized soon (though rather minimally and not this year—see the November 8th and October 18th School Beat columns for details), the debate over NCLB and what federal education legislation should be has been extensive and heated. Many educators have pointed to the ways in which NCLB fails, and will continue to fail, to support a solid, well-rounded, engaging educational system. These same individuals have proposals for implementable legislation with accountability goals and methods that are actually achievable. |