Summary NCLB- Weingarten

Melanie Larson

No Child Left Behind (Summary: Randi Weingarten)

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, believes that No Child Left Behind originally had a mission of creating high standards for U.S. schools, however it unfortunately turned into a focus of high stakes testing and the punishment of those schools who need the most support. NCLB was enacted in order to strengthen the U.S. school system but instead it created a system that did not support actions that would in turn make for a more productive system. Weingarten originally had high hopes for the act; however, it failed to achieve the objectives that it claimed it would. There are a multitude of flaws and no funding to back up the laws’ objectives, Weingarten claims. Any laws that follow No Child Left Behind must do what NCLB intended to do, level the playing field for students who are less fortunate.

NCLB is not only flawed Weingarten states, but it also does not provide schools and teachers with the resources they need in order to close the achievement gap. Since the inaction of NCLB there has been a focus on testing instead of teaching. The tests not only take up valuable learning time but they are also often not aligned to curriculum and force teachers to dumb down their teaching in the classroom. These factors often lead to testing results that do not show how much a student has learned but instead it shows how much students can remember over the course of the year. These tests highlight the issues in the schools but do not help to address the problems.

In order for teachers to help their students to be successful, Weingarten goes on to explain, teachers must have support from all stakeholders. The education of U.S. students is a collaborative effort that needs resources, support, and tools in order for the achievement gap to be closed. Many changes must be made to NCLB in order for the public school system to achieve their objectives.