Federal A Washington Roundup

‘No Child’ Critique Is Music to Their Ears

By Catherine Gewertz — May 10, 2005 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Politicians forged the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Wonks have studied it. Educators have debated it. But it hasn’t been something to sing about.

Until recently.

A group of folk singers, teachers, and students has produced a compact disc, “No Child Left Behind? Bring Back the Joy.”

In 15 tracks on the disc, the singers rail against standardized testing and offer a vision of schooling where children learn in the style that suits them best.

In one song, a Milwaukee middle school girl belts out a bluesy tune about tests wasting children’s minds. In another, set to the tune of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” singers proclaim: “These schools are your schools, these schools are our schools / No politicians rewriting our rules / No bubble test sheets or unfair standards / These schools were made for you and me.”

Eldon “Cap” Lee, a retired Milwaukee alternative-school principal and one of the organizers of the CD project, said the No Child Left Behind law is well-intentioned, but its focus is misplaced.

“We shouldn’t go back to letting kids slide through without learning anything,” he said. “But the way they’re using standardized testing is too punitive.”

The CD, released last September, hasn’t cracked the Billboard charts: it’s sold 620 copies nationwide.

But Mr. Lee has come out of retirement. He’s now singing in a new group called the Dangerous Folk trio.

Events

Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum New Insights Into the Teaching Profession
Join this free virtual event to get exclusive insights from Education Week's State of Teaching project.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal The U.S. Department of Energy Is Trying to Change a Title IX Rule. Why?
Proposals from the U.S. Department of Energy show buy-in from across the administration for the president's view of gender identity.
6 min read
Runners take off from the starting line for the 2A girls championship cross country race on Oct. 28, 2023, at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Runners take off from the starting line for the 2A girls championship cross-country race on Oct. 28, 2023, at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Trump administration is proposing a change to a school athletics rule under Title IX, but doing it through the U.S. Department of Energy rather than the Department of Education.
Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP
Federal Trump Admin. Was Moving Ed. Dept. Programs Elsewhere Before a Court Intervened
The department had penned agreements with the U.S. departments of Labor and the Treasury to move programs, but was halted by court order.
8 min read
A Morehouse College student lines up before the school commencement, May 19, 2024, in Atlanta. The Education Department announced on July 18, 2024, that it is cancelling an additional $1.2 billion in student loans for borrowers who work in public service.
A Morehouse College student lines up before the school commencement on May 19, 2024, in Atlanta. The U.S. Department of Education had started to work with the U.S. Department of the Treasury on transferring its student loan portfolio, a new court filing shows.
Seth Wenig/AP
Federal Trump Admin. Adds Project 2025 Author to Education Department Staff
The appointment comes as Trump has already begun to embrace plans outlined in the controversial 900-page conservative policy agenda.
4 min read
A copy of Project 2025 is held during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago.
A copy of Project 2025 is held during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. The Trump administration has added the author of the conservative policy document's chapter on education to the U.S. Department of Education's staff.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Federal Trump Admin. Pauses Ed. Dept. Layoffs After Judge's Order
The U.S. Department of Education is slowly complying with a federal court order to reinstate staff.
3 min read
Phil Rosenfelt, center, an attorney with the Office of the General Counsel at the Department of Education, is greeted by supporters after retrieving personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025.
Phil Rosenfelt, center, an attorney with the office of general counsel at the U.S. Department of Education, is greeted by supporters after retrieving personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025, the last day of work for hundreds of agency employees. The Trump administration has had to bump back the day it planned to stop paying laid-off staff.
Jose Luis Magana/AP