Opinion: If freed of NCLB, schools will have a lot to prove
Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Aug. 11, 2011, Reno Gazette-Journal.
By all means, Nevada should join the states requesting waivers from the flawed No Child Left Behind Act.
That must not be an excuse to lower Nevadans’ expectations for their schools, however. Rather, it should raise their expectations.
Ever since No Child Left Behind was approved during the administration of President George W. Bush, it has been a distraction — an easy scapegoat to be blamed by schools around the nation for their failures.
Too much time must be given over to testing, it’s said. Too much money is spent meeting requirements that do nothing to improve education in the classroom. Schools and students suffer when they’re labeled according to test scores. Even a cheating scandal in Georgia was blamed by some on the pressures of No Child Left Behind.
School officials in Nevada say they could do better without the law hanging over their heads.
Fair enough. Now, show us.
This week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the law an “impediment that’s getting in the way as a disincentive for the great work states are doing” and promised to develop a plan for waiving provisions of NCLB soon.