George W. Bush gets blamed for everything, but how much credit does he get when one of his ideas is producing positive results? The State of Maryland Education test scores were reported this week for “No Child Left Behind,” one of Bush’s bad ideas!Minority and poor students made enormous gains, the achievement gap narrowed and no student’s improvement came at the expense of another’s. Maryland is closing in on the promise of “leaving no child behind” and the credit goes to state and local officials, but also to the federal law that President George W. Bush initiated."No Child Left Behind" was signed into law in 2003 and both elementary and middle-school students in the state of Maryland have posted big gains. Composite reading and math proficiency for K-5 went up by 24%. Composite middle-school reading and math proficiency grades rose 18.6 % and 29% respectively. 7 in 10 African American students are now proficient in elementary math, compared to 4 in 10 in 2003. 7 in 10 Hispanic middle-school students are proficient in reading compared to 44.6% in 2003. Baltimore City, which traditionally was the state’s poorest performer, had remarkable gains.
No Child Left Behind provided standards to measure educational progress by and made schools and teachers responsible for their teaching. Most U.S. states have seen scores rise since NCLB was enacted and many states have seen the achievement gap between black and white children narrow.
With these great results why is reauthorization of this bill sitting in Congress? Sadly the future of No Child Left Behind will probably be determined by November’s election and not the test scores of the children. Why has the U.S. educational system always used the children for guinea pigs for new teaching methods and not stick with what works?
