Leaving No Child Behind

Finally, we must do everything possible to place a highly qualified teacher in every classroom by providing financial incentives to teachers in the most difficult schools and expanding professional development opportunities.

Reg Weaver

President,

National Education Association

No federal education law has been more misunderstood than No Child Left Behind. But despite all the complaints, no federal law has accomplished more for the poor and minority children historically shortchanged by our education system.

While we continue to press for closing the achievement gap and preparing all students for the real-world challenges of college and career, the federal law must maintain a laser-like focus on ensuring that all students are proficient in reading and math. Congress should resist calls to add more measures to the current accountability system that would provide "extra credit" for schools failing to meet the needs of their students in these two fundamental subject areas.

The "adequate yearly progress" standard was designed to be easily understood by parents, educators and policymakers. The clarity of the accountability system shouldn't be muddied by variables that let schools off the hook for poor performance in reading and math, even for just one group of students. Instead, Congress should provide funding for the additional supports and resources that research has identified as critical to academic success -- strong, effective teachers empowered by rich curricula tied to high-quality assessments of student learning -- and target those resources to the schools that need the most help.

Kati Haycock

President, The Education Trust

No Child Left Behind is a great slogan -- but a flawed program. More and more parents are finding this out. NCLB has appropriately focused attention on the performance of all students, but it fails in two major areas.