No Remedy Left Behind: Lessons from a Half-Decade of NCLB

Let me say right up front that I think the Federal Government has no Constitutional mandate for being involved in education. Before the 1960s everyone knew that and the reason it stepped in then was twofold. First, to use federal funds as a lever to integrate schools. If you don't follow our policies for integration you don't get the "free" money from Washington. In reality, the Federal Government was soaking up more and more of the nation's money to use for its programs to fix society and the states and local governments had a hard time raising money when competing with the power of the federal government. So, the second reason was to make the States dependent on the Feds for more and more in order to get their increasing social agenda through. This was bad government then and it is bad government now. However, given the national power of teacher's unions and their stranglehold not only on public education, but also in preventing real educational reforms, it may require Federal power to create actual reform. However, I doubt the Feds have the political will to actually reform education. Too many in Congress are dependent on the education unions to move against their narrow interests. The No Child Left Behind act was George W. Bush's attempt at creating accountability in schools. Too many schools aren't teaching students effectively. This not only wastes taxpayer money, it damages lives and creates ongoing social problems for society. This book takes a close look at the way the program has been implemented, what is working, and what is not working. For example, most states are making progress in monitoring and the Adequate Yearly Progress standard. However, they get to define what it means, which is quite odd. Nor are states making effective efforts to notify parents of children in failing schools that they can switch to other schools. Frankly, other schools don't want these students because their poor performance will likely drag down their ratings. Sad. This very useful book has an introduction that lays out the NCLB as it was meant to be and what is actually happening in the states. The books conclusion provides the authors' recommendations for improving NCLB. The bulk of the book consists of three parts. Part 1 has four chapters that look at the uneven implementation of the act, how the big city schools are indeed seeing some benefits from NCLB, the problems with Supplemental Educational Services, and some of the paradoxes that exist in trying to implement the program (for example, how do you send kids to better performing schools when there aren't enough of them to go around). Part 2 is a fascinating look at four states and their implementation of NCLB. We get a tour of the ways the act is being implemented, misapplied, and ignored in California, New Jersey, Colorado, and Michigan. Part 3 looks at the effects on school districts in rural Kentucky and in Miami-Dade County in Florida. Part 4 Looks at remedies in