Criticism of the No Child Left Behind Act

The No Child Left Behind Act is a landmark education act passed in 2001 under President George W. Bush. The act introduced sweeping reforms to the American educational system. while the act has been praised by some people, others have voiced criticism of the act for several reasons.
One of the points of contention for critics of the No Child Left Behind Act is that it sets up unrealistic goals. The act says that every student must test to grade level in reading and math by 2014. Critics say that’s simply not possible. That there’s no way 100 percent of students will test to grade level in those subjects because some students have mental disabilities and others just might have a poor test day.
Another problem with the No Child Left Behind Act according to critics is that it sets up school systems, administrators and teachers to “game” or cheat the system in order to make sure their class or school is within guidelines of the act. For example, some schools classify dropouts differently in order to stay within the guidelines. Also, teachers have been accused of helping students during testing so that they pass the standardized tests.
The standardized tests themselves are another worry for the critics of the No Child Left Behind Act. Some people feel like the standardized tests harm the American educational system because teachers teach for the test and focus solely on problems students are likely to see on the tests rather than trying to make sure their students are understanding concepts. This type of teaching is known as “teaching to the test.”
Critics of the No Child Left Behind Act look to many effects of the standardized testing and standards put in place by the act and say that it is harming the American educational system.