| Summary: | School districts and campuses throughout the nation are working around the clock to avoid an unacceptable accountability rating under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. In Texas the label has recently changed to "Improvement Required." An "Improvement Required" label forces districts and campuses into the Texas Accountability Intervention System (TAIS), a system implemented by Texas to satisfy the NCLB federal requirements, and to engage struggling districts and schools toward academic school improvement. The NCLB Act has good intentions; however, it might be creating a crisis in education. It is important to remember that NCLB, "the 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), was born in bipartisan spirit to do something positive in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001" (Meier, Kohn, Darling-Hammond, Sizer & Wood, 2004, p. viii-ix). In addition, Meier, et al. stated "NCLB is premised on the notion that schools will be made better by following a yearly testing regime that leads to every child being proficient in reading, math, and science by 2014" (p. xii). The debate continues over whether the Act will accomplish what it set out to accomplish. The premise of the book Many Children Left Behind, by Meier, Khon, Darling-Hammond, Sizer and Wood (2004) is that "even if ... technical problems [with the NCLB implementations] are fixed, NCLB cannot, will not, and perhaps was even not intended to deliver on its promises" (p. xi)
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