USA Today published this excellent review of the impact of No Child Left Behind on the 5th anniversary of the enactment of the law:
How Bush education law has changed our schools
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
The walls are speaking these days at Stanton Elementary School in Philadelphia, and they're talking about test scores.
Post-It notes with children's names tell the story of how, in just five years, a federal law with a funny name has changed school for everyone. "We spend most of our days talking about or looking at data," principal Barbara Adderley says.
Test scores run her week.
She meets with kindergarten teachers on Monday, first-grade teachers on Tuesday and so on. The meetings begin with a look at each teacher's "assessment wall," filled with color-coded Post-Its representing each pupil and whether he or she is making steady progress in basic skills. Once students master a skill, the Post-Its move up the wall.
"If they don't move, then we have to talk about what's happening," Adderley says.
What's driving the talk? President Bush's landmark education law, dubbed No Child Left Behind.
How Bush education law has changed our schools – USATODAY.com
