A Teacher’s Guide to Fixing No Child Left Behind

U.S. Department of Education. (2011, May 24). A Teacher’s Guide to Fixing No Child Left Behind. YouTube.

The video details some of the problems created by NCLB such as test obsession, narrow curricula, blaming teachers, etc. and describes President Barack Obama’s proposal to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and solve them:

1. College and career ready standards.
2. Measure and report results.
3. Better assessments.
4. Loosen regulations that burden teachers by implementing “aggressive” turnaround plans for lowest performing schools.
5. Recognize and reward schools that are stimulating student growth.
6. Offer students a well rounded curriculum
7. Focus on growth and student achievement instead of absolute test scores.

Written by a teacher at the U.S. Department of Education, the animated video offers a vision that strengthens teaching, narrows achievement gaps, raises standards, and prepares all students for colleges and careers in a global economy. It includes video clips of Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. It is important to note that many of the points raised by this US Department of Education are questionable- as a teacher in an inner-city low performing school, these goals have accelerated the negative effects of No Child Left Behind.