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Over the last several years we've heard a great deal about making sure no children are left behind, but what exactly does that mean? What is the legislation behind the movement? Let's take a look.

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed into law in 2002 by President George Bush, and has since been the source of much controversy in the American Educational System. Proponents of this law cite increased test scores as evidence that American children are benefiting from the mandates under NCLB. Critics argue that the law has simply resulted in a preoccupation with test scores at the expense of educating our children.

NCLB Meets School Realities: Lessons from the Field (Sunderman, Kim, & Orfield, 2005) is arguably one of the most comprehensive studies to date on NCLB and the realities of its implementation in our public educational system. The authors explored the implications of increased federal oversight of public education, the impact of NCLB on minority populations, the reality of standardized testing, and the difficulties created by requiring schools to achieve high standards of Annual Yearly Progress (AYP). Although the authors do an expert job of providing a balanced discussion of the issues, after thorough examination it is clear that NCLB is a failure.

One problem with NCLB is that while it requires states to implement specific procedures, it does not provide the funds needed for such implementations. When poorer, usually minority, school districts are unable to implement the required procedures due to lack of resources, they are sanctioned by the removal or redistribution of even more funds. This leads to an ongoing cycle of impoverished school systems that have little if any chance of improving or succeeding. In this way, legislation that purports to leave no children behind consistently leaves poor and minority children behind.

Compounding the issue is the flawed measuring system for rating Annual Yearly Progress, or AYP. While test scores comprise a part of the score, other factors, such as number of students on free and reduced lunch, are also factored in. In theory, a school can improve test scores yearly and still not meet AYP simply because the number of students on free and reduced lunch dropped. While one would hope a societal goal is to decrease the number of children who need free and reduced lunch, schools are actually sanctioned when these numbers drop.

The end goal of NCLB is to ensure that every child scores in the proficient range of

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