The No Child Left Behind law is up for review this September, and it appears that there isn’t going to be much of a vote on the issue at all in the House of Representatives unless major changes appear. Representative George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House education committee and one of the authors of No Child Left Behind, acknowledged yesterday that Americans feel the law is not comprehensive enough, the the point of being unfair.

As it stands, No Child Left Behind requires an annual test on reading and math skills in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school - schools that perform poorly on these annual tests are at risk of monetary sanctions. However, Miller acknowledges that a standardized annual reading and math test is not necessarily the only way - or the best way - to determine whether schools are educating their children properly, or encouraging their teachers to educate properly. Suggestions have been made that other factors should be considered in evaluating the performance of schools, like graduation rates and the number of students successfully passing Advanced Placement classes.

Miller says,
“Many Americans do not believe that the success of our students or of our schools can be measured by one test administered on one day, and I agree with them.”

Boarder