Response to "NCLB Weapons of Public Education Destruction" by Sue Whitney

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Note: Congress has reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the statute formerly known as No Child Left Behind. The new statute, Every Student Succeeds Act, was signed into law by President Obama on December 10, 2015.

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Note: On May 29, 2003, EducationNews featured an Op/Ed article entitled "NCLB Weapons of Public Education Destruction. This article included inaccuracies about retention, high-stakes testing, and the No Child Left Behind Act.

Research editor Sue Whitney wrote a letter to set the record straight. Her letter was published in EducationNews on May 30 and is reproduced below:

Mr. Pryzbyla spoke against the use of retention and high stakes testing in his May 29 article, "NCLB Weapons of Public Education Destruction." I agree that these practices are not educationally sound. I disagree that they are required by the No Child Left Behind Act.

I would like to set the record straight.

The tests required by the No Child Left Behind Act are designed to test the success of schools, not to test or punish individual students. The sanctions mandated in No Child Left Behind are directed at schools that fail to teach students. No Child Left Behind does not include any sanctions for students or groups of students.

In fact, the law includes this following statement:

Sue Whitney Heath
Research Editor, Wrightslaw.com
Email: sueheath | at | wrightslaw.com