Initiated in 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) intended to prevent the academic failures of educational institutions and individual students, as well as bridge achievement gaps between students ( Trolian). This act supports the basic standards of education reform across America; desiring to improve the learning outcomes of America's youth. No Child Left Behind has left many to criticize the outcomes of the Act itself. Questions have risen concerning the effectiveness of NCLB, as well as the implications to America's youth. I believe that the No Child Left Behind Act should be revised to allow better accountability of student success, accountability of schools overall progress and better flexibility for teachers.
             One reason that NCLB should be revised is because students are held to unfair accountability standards. Students should be held accountable for the hard work they put into the entire school year and not by the "high performance tests" that the government administers. In efforts to boost the country's academic achievements, the NCLB has mandated "high performance testing" which is required of all students(Trolian). The problem here is simple; not all students can perform at the same academic level. To add, standardized tests are the only source of understanding the academic achievements under NCLB, which are not an entirely accurate measure of a student's performance. Additionally, the testing results are directly linked to awards or penalties of the school performance. Each state establishes their own standards, which must approved by the federal government if participating in NCLB. The tests are predominately multiple-choice style tests. The tests do not take in account their report card grades or significant individual achievements made by a student. For example, if a student is three levels below their reading grade, but increases their reading by two grades over the course ...