A Forgotten Goal

A Forgotten Goal
NCLB: A Brief History

The implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002 called for heighten standards in the educational system, ultimately to educate children of the United States to become competitive in the globalized world (Honawar, 2005). Under NCLB, each state “establishes an accountability system that has separate performance goals in reading and mathematics with all schools reaching 100 percent proficiency in each area within twelve years” (Swanson, 2003). In order to measure the progress of the students, each state administers a series of standardized tests from grades 3 through 8. The results of the tests infer if the school is adequately teaching students to the state’s defined proficiency standards. If a school does not meet the proficiency standards for two consecutive years, the school moves to “program improvement status”. With this label, the school must develop improvement plans. If the school remains in the improvement status, for three or more years, “school systems are required to take corrective action, ranging from replacing staff, implementing a new scientifically based curriculum, or potentially closing the school and reopening it as a charter school” (Fisher, Hirsh-Pasek, & Golinkoff, 2008 p. 2).

NCLB: The Current Trends

Six years after NCLB was established, students in grades 3 through 8 are still continuing to be administered the state’s standardized tests. The once utopian goal of schooling and nurturing creative, flexible thinkers to be the leaders in a globalized world may be a distant realization. The emphasis on the importance of the test adds stress on the teachers, schools, and students. Ultimately teachers are becoming less interactive partners in the educational process and more machine like, teaching their students only what they need for the tests, all the while neglecting how to nurture creative thinking (Fisher, Hirsh-Pasek, & Golinkoff, 2008 p.7).

The realization that one of the goals of the test may be out of reach, or possibly just forgotten, is apparent in current testing materials. In the recent parent, student, and teacher information guide of the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK, 2008), the pamphlet emphasizes the importance of the test to the parents as such. “We believe the experience gained from taking this test will help your children when they take the state’s tests at another grade levels, including the eighth-grade test and the state’s high school graduation test” (NJ ASK, 2008 p. 4). The rational for the administration and completion of the test is simply because they will have to take subsequent tests. The pamphlet goes on to explain what the test composes of. Most of the test is composed of multiple-choice questions that the children must answer. The purpose for using multiple-choice questions are because “these questions are objective and do not require scoring by trained professionals” (NJ ASK, 2008 p. 5). Perhaps the test make up should not be based on the easiest way to score it, but instead be based on the most effective way to determine if students are progressively becoming citizens that will be competitive in the global market through creative and profound ways of thinking.

What does this mean?

Based on the pamphlet given to parents, teachers, and students, the reasoning for being given the tests are substantially different then those emphasized by the Bush administration. These mixed signals possibly show that the once idealistic thought may be out of reach, in part because of NCLB. The added pressure the teachers and schools face, are forcing them to strictly teach to the test. All the while educators disregard one of the reasons for the implementation of NCLB. Is it possible to produce competitive citizens in the global market as NCLB has stated, while completely forging away from this emphasis as shown in the current testing material given to educators and parents? If the true understanding of a goal is forgotten, is that goal unattainable?


Seth McCann