School progress is still at odds with NCLB

by Ariel Donohue

I read an article from the Star Ledger about the struggles of Eighteenth Avenue Elementary School in Newark.  This school has fostered some incredible improvements in student attitudes, standardized test scores, and overall knowledge base.  The school's enrollment increases each year, drawing in primarily students with learning disabilities and/or behavioral issues.  The principal has worked to make Eighteenth Avenue School a comfortable home for its children and their families.  However, as a result of No Child Left Behind, Eighteenth Avenue is at risk of being closed or otherwise negatively impacted due to the fact that their test scores remain below the national requirement.
Reading this article, I first felt the anger that I have often experienced after learning more about NCLB.  I was also struck by the fact that schools are being assessed strictly by their test scores.  On a national level, there is a complete disregard for the degree of improvement, student involvement, and potential.  Although these are certainly difficult factors to assess, it is unfair and ineffective to look at only one piece of the students' achievement.  The more I read
about NCLB, the more enraged I become at the stupidity of such a law. How could something like that ever work?  If anything, I feel that it is damaging the educational institution.
Fifty years ago, my dad was going through the Newark school system as a child.  Today, he is one of the brightest people I have ever met.  After reading this article, I asked him about the quality of his own education.  He told me stories of both notable and uneducated teachers of his past, gaps in his education (he never took any art or music classes throughout his educational career), and how his Newark education gave him the tools to become who he is presently.  The main point that resonated with me was that, despite the quality of his school district or his standardized test scores, he acquired an incredible love for learning that has made him a highly intelligent man.  What if his elementary school had been rated under the current laws or affected by NCLB?  Would he and his classmates have received a better education?