| The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is | | | | watered-down high-stakes graduation tests |
| making the problem of cheating, low academic | | | | that proved too tough even for students in |
| standards, and public schools lying to | | | | the so-called better schools in the suburbs. |
| parents, even worse. Under this Act, the | | | | |
| Department of Education now requires students | | | | In Wisconsin, state legislators backed off |
| to pass standardized tests. Failing schools | | | | plans to require high school graduation tests |
| will lose federal funding and other perks if | | | | because of strong opposition by parents from |
| their students consistently turn in a bad | | | | affluent suburbs. One parent group calling |
| performance on these tests. | | | | itself "Advocates for Education" argued that |
| | | | high-stakes testing would not be fair to |
| Holding schools and teachers accountable, and | | | | children and would hurt educational quality |
| expecting students to demonstrate what | | | | in the schools. |
| they've learned, sounds like a good idea. But | | | | |
| this Act means that badly-taught students, | | | | Critics of the graduation tests were worried |
| victims of dumbed-down texts and bad teaching | | | | that the tests would put too much pressure on |
| methods like new math and whole-language | | | | the children. Suburban parents lobbied |
| instruction, now have to pass difficult | | | | parent-teacher organizations, and state |
| standardized tests they are not ready for. | | | | legislators eventually scrapped the |
| | | | graduation test before a single high-school |
| As a result, millions of students may fail | | | | student had taken it. |
| these tests, not because they are dumb, but | | | | |
| because the schools never taught them to read | | | | Similarly, New York and Massachusetts |
| properly or solve a math problem without a | | | | officials yielded to pressure by parents to |
| calculator. Millions of high school students | | | | set low passing grades for their new |
| with low reading and math skills now risk not | | | | graduation tests. In Virginia and Arizona, |
| graduating from high school until they pass | | | | state boards of education have backed away |
| these tests. | | | | from graduation tests that were too tough for |
| | | | even the so-called better schools. Only 7 |
| It is important that parents know the | | | | percent of schools in Virginia met new |
| unvarnished truth about their children's real | | | | achievement standards, and 9 out of 10 |
| academic abilities, but many parents are now | | | | sophomores in Arizona schools failed a new |
| frantic because they see their children's | | | | math test. |
| failing grades on these new tests. As a | | | | |
| result, they complain to school boards that | | | | In New York City, school authorities |
| they do not want their children taking these | | | | estimated that over 30 percent of the city's |
| tests or not graduating from high school | | | | 11th-graders would not be eligible to |
| because of low test scores. To protect their | | | | graduate if the English language standard |
| children, many parents are now demanding | | | | that will take effect next year was being |
| dumbed-down tests to make sure that their | | | | applied today. Diane Ravitch of the Brookings |
| kids graduate from high school and go to | | | | Institute in Washington is a longtime analyst |
| college. | | | | of New York's public-school system She |
| | | | estimated that in some neighborhoods, less |
| The No Child Left Behind Act is now forcing | | | | than 5 percent of high-school seniors would |
| many parents to condone schools that | | | | qualify to graduate under the new standards. |
| dumb-down their tests and standards, instead | | | | |
| of blaming these schools for their children's | | | | Parents, particularly those with younger |
| failure to learn. This is a typical | | | | children, should take heed. You don't want to |
| unintended consequence of more government | | | | end up with high-school kids who may not |
| laws that try to fix problems that a | | | | graduate because they can't pass the new |
| government-controlled school system created | | | | tests. In Chapters 8, 9, and the Resource |
| in the first place. | | | | section of "Public Schools, Public Menace," I |
| | | | explore how you can circumvent these serious |
| State lawmakers in New York, Wisconsin, | | | | problems by finding real education |
| Massachusetts, and other states have yielded | | | | alternatives outside the public schools. |
| to parent pressure. They have scrapped or | | | | |