The No Child Left Behind Act sets up children and teachers for failure. Isn’t education to support success not failure? According to the Center on Educational Policy in year four of this law, their report states that unhealthy pressure is on teachers and principals. While the constant negative publicity creates problems for districts, where there is not an academic problem. It has torn apart social studies curriculum by focusing on facts that do not make them better leaders or help students make choices. The more able students are not encouraged so everyone can focus on passing the mark. This is narrowing the curriculum and perpetuating the perception that there is only one way to teach and only one curriculum. In addition, the No Child Left Behind Act also became the subject of legal challenges in federal and state court.

In addition, the annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll of attitudes about public schools asserted that the more people learn about NCLB, the less they agree with its strategies (Rose & Gallup, 2005). This poll asked respondents how much they knew about NCLB. More than two-thirds (68%) said they did not think a single test provides picture of whether a school needs improvement. Moreover, 80% believed that testing in reading and math only does not provide a fair picture. More than two-thirds (68%) said students in special education should not use the same standards as other students, and 62% said test scores of special education students should not be included in determining whether a school needs improvement. A hefty majority (85%) felt it would be better to base AYP on improvement during the year than on the percentage of students meeting fixed goals.

Furthermore, it is becoming clear that the law is leaving behind more children than it is saving. The children being abandoned are our nation’s most vulnerable children—children of color and poor children in America’s big cities and remote rural areas—the very children the law claims it will rescue.

Below are ten moral concerns as outlined by the National Council of Churches Committee on Public Education and Literacy. On the webpage: www.faithfulamerica.org/children is:

TEN MORAL CONCERNS ABOUT "No Child Left Behind"

Moral Concern #1: The Act sets impossibly high standards
Moral Concern #2: Ignores the fact that every child is unique
Moral Concern #3: Identifies schools as "failing schools" and this marks children
Moral Concern #4: Ignores children with disabilities.
Moral Concern #5: Requires English language learners to take tests in English before learning the language
Moral Concern #6: Blames schools and teachers for challenges beyond their control
Moral Concern #7: Obscures the role of the humanities, arts, and child development
Moral Concern #8: Operates through sanctions, penalizing the most impoverished schools
Moral Concern #9: Exacerbates racial and economic segregation
Moral Concern #10: Holds poorest schools accountable without funding reforms

It will take years to restore a healthy educational system for the students and teachers. The future of our country needs students who can develop creative thinking and individual abilities to become the leaders we need for the future and not the sheep that follow the current path that actually reduces and narrows the scope of their education from a lack of uniqueness of thought.