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Comparing classrooms of days gone by with present times one may notice the effect of "No Child Left Behind" on classroom content. Many decades ago the three R's were heavily taught within the public education classroom with little room for any other subject. Curriculum was based on government testing. Is this starting to sound familiar? The downfall was student learned mainly through rote memorization and didn't really understand or want to understand the content they were learning. Modern day teaching has helped to increase the content and interest in classroom content prior to the "No Child Left Behind Act."

The "No Child Left Behind Act" has pushed the education pendulum into reverse when it comes to classroom content. Teachers are forced to teach for the test. This limits the content of their classroom lessons to teaching the average achiever the skills they need to take the test. This makes one laugh when this Act forces the issue of all students learning within the same classroom environment. Education is becoming subject centered rather than student centered.

A subject centered classroom limits the content and way an educator may teach. There is less time to cover the curriculum in a manner needed for visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners. This may actually have an impact on a students esteem. The students would be limited to learning strictly what is mapped in the yearly curriculum with no room to expand upon related topics. There would be less opportunity to draw upon real life experience within the content area being taught. This may result in the student loosing interest in learning. Keeping all this in mind one may begin to understand the "No Child Left Behind Act" may negatively impact the classroom content and the way students learn today.

Learn more about this author, Bayla Maya.
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