Reply #8: NCLB is the biggest unfunded educational mandate..

[JackDragna]

..in U.S. history. Within a year after enacting the legislation, Bush cut federal funding for a program to train new teachers. There won't be anywhere near the amount of teachers necessary to raise student performance to the levels the NCLB suggests.

Not that the standards were reasonable in the first place. For those who don't know, the heart of the NCLB Act are mandated increases in performance on standardized tests. NCLB, unlike state standards for tests, only recognizes students as satisfactory or unsatisfactory in terms of their scores. Schools must show a modest increase for the first five years of the act in the percentage of the students that have satisfactory scores. After five years, however, the percentage of students that must score in the satisfactory level jumps significantly: at 10 years, 100% of students in a school must score at that level. When the act says 100%, it means 100%, too: one student screws up and your school has its ass in a sling.

Not only will all schools fail to reach 100% satisfactory scores at the end of the act, most poor schools have the deck statistically stacked against them by the act. NCLB forces all students in a school to take standardized tests and have their scores count toward the school's rating. NCLB recognizes nine subclasses of students, ranging from ethnic minorities to students with disabilities. All of the subgroups must receive satisfactory scores: if your school has an overall satisfactory score but one of the subgroups does not, your school fails and is subject to special action.

The real fun part lies in that students can be members of more than one group. If you have a dyslexic Hispanic student in your school, that student is a member of two subgroups. If that child fails all the standardized tests, he bombs the averages in two of your subgroups. Guess what sort of schools have a lot of minority students that need special education? If you said "poor schools", then you're right.

Sorry for the rant. I just thought you all would enjoy some quick fun facts to use against conservatives. NCLB is a disaster.