'No Child' Leaves Too Much Behind

Giving all these subjects greater emphasis in the curriculum and in the way school performance is measured should help develop well-rounded children prepared to deal with the important decisions they will face as adults at work, at home and in civic life.

It seems reasonable that if we continue the policy of holding schools accountable, we need to broaden the meaning of school quality to include more of the things that really matter to students, parents and society.

Labeling a school a success or failure based solely on the basis of reading and math test scores reflects a failure of imagination. It downgrades the importance of other subjects and minimizes the value of students' real accomplishments. Imposing sanctions based on such a limited view of the educational landscape is shortsighted.

Furthermore, testing is not the only way to indicate whether students have mastered academic skills.

Calculating the number of semesters required for students learning English as a second language to become proficient would tell us how well the schools serve the needs of an often growing proportion of students.

Assessing the proportion of students who are properly identified for special education services and who promptly receive those services would add to our understanding of the responsiveness of a school to children's needs. So would tracking the ability of schools to provide additional services to students deemed at risk of failing.

Counting the percentages of students in high school who complete college-preparatory courses or who participate in challenging Advanced Placement classes would also add a good deal to our understanding of a schools' overall performance.

The percentage of students going to college is another good indicator of school performance. While graduation rates are part of the measurements tallied by No Child Left Behind, college admission rates are not.

The No Child Left Behind law focuses on a very narrow set of outcomes, and ignores many elements that students and their families find satisfying, challenging and motivating about their schools. An improved No Child Left Behind Act ought to focus on more than standardized tests in reading and math to get a real picture of how well students are being prepared for life.

Brian Stecher is a senior social scientist at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization.