Updating ‘No Child Left Behind:’ Change, or More of the Same

Origins at eHistory

In the wake of a highly polarized battle over health care reform, Congress and the Obama Administration have begun to take up another major issue in domestic policy: reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Put forth in 2001 by the George W. Bush administration and passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, NCLB has had a powerful influence on American education, attempting to hold schools more 'accountable' for student achievement as measured by regular standardized testing. The law has been widely unpopular, especially among educators who feel it scapegoats them for the 'achievement gap' between students of different racial and social class backgrounds, yet politicans of both parties remain attracted to its main emphasis on test-driven accountability. As the debate over reauthorization gains momentum, historian John Spencer looks at how NCLB-style accountability grew out of, and at the same time ignores key lessons of, a long history of educational inequality.