No Child Left Behind: The War on Renewal Continues

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has received many responses- positive and negative. Now it is time to reconsider: Do we renew the act, or as many feel, is it time to reevaluate and overhaul the entire legislation?

The debate has been intensely growing and is not merely questioning the revised version of the act, but the entire program/legislation. While Republicans and Democrats are tending to fall on all sides of the spectrum on this issue, many Republicans are in favor of a new, watered down version of the bill. On the other side, ten Democratic senators signed a letter last month saying they want an entire overhaul of the program, deeming it “unsustainable.”

Many states, such as Virginia and Arizona, are contesting the number of standardized tests imposed by the act. Others, such as Utah, feel stipulations stating that every teacher must have at least a college degree, are unfair. As Tom Horne, a Republican and Arizona’s superintendent of public instruction, stated, “You cannot run a complex, continentwide education system through micromanagement by people living in an ivory tower at the Department of Education in Washington.”

The battle continues, will there be an entire revamp of the legislation or will a slightly renovated version of the NCLB be renewed?