'No Child Left Behind' fails CA schools

The No Child Left Behind Act seems to be leaving many children far behind. Campuses are considered failures due to low test scores in third to eighth grade. These results only prove that the law itself is a failure. Schools should not be judged by standardized test scores, but rather by their improvement in performance.

Under No Child Left Behind, 100 percent of students in all schools are required to meet proficiency standards in math and English by 2013-14, according to the Los Angeles Times. The law requires standardized testing in all public schools, which does not test real knowledge and thinking ability, just minor details and memorized facts. California previously had high testing standards but has tried to make the new law more humane by lowering standards. So far, those efforts have not helped much.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell is attempting to have the rules changed by lobbying the Bush administration. O'Connell and 20 other state superintendents are proposing schools be judged by their improvement and not strictly from test scores.

According to the Los Angeles Times, around 13 percent of public schools did not meet test scores. This percentage includes 1,200 California state schools. If the schools improve their test scores but do not meet projected goals, they don't get credit for their accomplishments. For schools already under par, the standards are nearly impossible to meet. Unfortunately, the standard this year was raised by 11 percent, a tough goal for any school, even those that met previous standards.

It makes more sense to judge schools on an individual basis, perhaps with district-wide standards instead of state-wide. That way, schools are judged fairly on their improvement from year to year in similar areas, instead of comparing schools with a high percentage of foreign language speakers to one where students have grown up speaking English, or comparing schools in poverty-stricken areas to those in a wealthy community able to offer more programs.

The penalty for not meeting these standards is threat of federal sanctions, which would cause principals and teachers to be replaced, or outside managerial help to run the school.

Unfamiliar leadership will not help schools because of the time it takes for a new principal or teacher to get acquainted with the position, the rules of the institution and the students.

Schools also face the threat of being downsized into smaller schools. Schools that have been constantly underperforming will face evaluation and restructuring.

A recent state report predicted that by next spring, 67 percent of schools will fall short of the targets. The schools are required to either provide after school tutoring or use some of their federal funding to transfer high achieving students to campuses with better scores.

The No Child Left Behind Act needs to be reevaluated to measure the level of a campus and not just its students' ability to memorize. Third through eighth-graders should not be punished because of an impossibly high state-wide standard.