Former official in the Department of Education under the administration of US President George W. Bush, Susan Neuman has weighed in on the controversial “No Child Left Behind” Act (NCLB). Neuman, an education profession at the University of Michigan, still believes in NCLB. However, she has plenty of her criticisms in which NCLB has been implemented and initiated.
Under NCLB, public school students from grades 4 to 8 would meet the achievements at grade level in both reading and mathematics. So far, no educational system in the world has managed to pull that off. Also under NCLB, every student is supposed to achieving at grade level each year. In short, many have perceived NCLB as a one-size fits all policy, which doesn’t.
This act initiated by the Bush administration has been under fire from many educators. There was funding promised as well. However, the funding has yet to be received under NCLB. According to critics, NCLB had done the opposite of what it was intended to do. Instead, NCLB has done more harm than good.
NCLB could mirror former US President Bill Clinton’s role in the Hillary Clinton campaign. Many have anticipated that assistance from Bill would boost up Hillary’s campaign run. But, it was the opposite. Many have cited Bill as one of the factors that had damaged Hillary’s candidacy.
Early on in the Democratic primary, Clinton had severely criticized NCLB.
Neuman said that many in the department saw it was a pathogen. She said: “There were a number of people pushing hard for market forces and privatization.” Much tension was generated because of NCLB. Tensions were heated from within the Department of Education to avoid looking like the administration of former President Bill Clinton.
But, she argued that most schools would not meet the goals of NCLB. However, arguments were dismissed and ignored. Neuman said also said that the Bush administration’s approach was not a good one. Under NCLB, schools that could not meet the goals were labeled as failing schools.
In that regard, Neuman said: “Vilifying teachers and saying we are going to shame them was not the right approach.”
In a nutshell, Neuman said that the goals of NCLB were inflexible and unrealistic. Still, she does support school accountability and annual testing. However, she now believes that schools alone cannot accomplish such tasks.
While Neuman still supports NCLB, she says that the responsibility cannot be placed on schools and teachers alone. It is a given that education will be one of the issues for the 2008 US Presidential elections.