No child left behind

Radical Teacher, Summer, 2004

George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act is debunked by Deborah Meier (The Nation, June 14, 2004). Meier details all the illusions NCLB promotes: that all children can score in the top twenty-fifth percentile; that tests alone can, and should, measure worthwhile standards; that progress comes in steady increments; that penalties will motivate children and teachers; that lack of money is a mere excuse; that schools can do it all.

While teachers, principals, superintendents, and local school boards are in almost unanimous opposition, politicians and Education Secretary Run Paige do not understand, or refuse to admit, the preposterous nature of this Act and its elitist goal of eliminating students. George W. Bush's "Texas Miracle," which became the underlying premise of NCLB and was based on a single standardized test called the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, has proven both extravagant and false ("Texas Testing Massacre" and "Education Eugenics," In These Times, March 1, 2004).