What NCLB Means

As talk of reauthorization swirls around the No Child Left Behind Act, the National Education Association wants everyone to know what happens when the federal education law trickles down to the classroom. That’s why the 3.2 million-member group published Voices From the Classroom, a book of teachers’ stories about the effects of NCLB. Below is a sample of educators’ experiences. Stories from each state are online at www.nea.org/esea/nclbstories/states.html

“[NCLB] has taken the fun and creativity out of the teaching profession. Gone are the days when I could take an entire class period to react to current events and develop the whole child by teaching them how what is going on in the world impacts their life. Instead, my instruction is limited to being on a certain page of the text by a certain day of the year.”

Terri Zumbrook, 7th grade math teacher
Round Lake, Illinois