To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Repeal No Child Left Behind
All of the testing required by No Child Left Behind is placing undue pressure on teachers and children. Educators know that standardized testing is not the best way to find out what students can do. More importantly, standardized testing does not take into account how much progress a child has made in school. Let's stop spending money on NCLB and instead put more money into methods research has shown to be effective, such as smaller schools.
Why is this important?
As an educator myself, I have spoken to countless teachers who feel they spend more time assessing their students than teaching them since NCLB went into effect. Children report feeling stressed out by 'the big test'. Research has not shown substantial gains in schools since NCLB was instated. Why keep torturing children and teachers? We know that smaller schools produce better learning. Research has shown this for years. Why not invest our money in creating smaller schools instead.