By THOMAS HARGROVE and GUIDO H. STEMPEL III
Scripps Howard News Service
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Nearly two-thirds of American adults want Congress to re-write or outright abolish the landmark No Child Left Behind Act that mandates nationwide testing of elementary students to determine if public schools are performing adequately.
Opposition is especially high among people most familiar with the law, according to a survey of 1,010 adults conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University.
Controversy about the law has grown in recent months as Congress begins the debate on whether to reauthorize the measure that President Bush has touted is one of the most important achievements of his administration.
"The No Child Left Behind Act has worked for America's children and I ask Congress to reauthorize this good law," Bush urged legislators during his last State of the Union address.
But dissent against reauthorization has developed within his own party. Fifty-two Republican House members and five GOP senators are calling for a repeal of the law in favor of a more flexible system of achievement standards to be negotiated between the Department of Education and individual states.
"This expensive and largely unsuccessful legislation has broadened the scope of the federal government's role in education," Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said while introducing his bill.
Participants in the poll were told that No Child Left Behind "requires states to test elementary students to determine if schools do a good job teaching. Critics say the law forces teachers to teach to a particular test. From everything you've heard, do you think the No Child Left Behind Act has been good for public schools or not good?"
Only about a third said they think the law has had a positive influence on public education while slightly less than half said it has had a negative impact and a fifth were undecided.
A few respondents volunteered different answers that were generally critical of the law.
"The schools should have more leeway," said the mother of two public school children from Lexington, S.C.
"It was a good theory, but the implementation has been faulty," remarked another mother with three children from Elmhurst, N.Y.
"No Child Left Behind created unfunded mandates which force teachers to teach to the test," complained a single woman from Tonopah, Nev.
"States should have more control over their education programs," said a mother from Houston, Texas.
Respondents in the poll were also asked: "Based upon everything you've heard, do you want Congress to renew the No Child Left Behind law, do you want Congress to make changes in the law or do you want Congress to cancel the No Child Left Behind law?"
Twenty-three percent said they want the law renewed in its current form, 14 percent want it abolished and 49 percent want it amended. Fourteen percent were undecided. Taken together, 63 percent want the law abolished or amended.
About three-quarters of people who said they are "very familiar" with the law also say they want it altered or abolished, compared to less than half of people who say they are "not familiar" with the measure.
Well-educated people, especially college graduates and those who've attended post-graduate schooling, are especially likely to call for changes to the law. People who have public school children at home are somewhat more likely to want the law altered or abolished than are people who don't currently have children in school.
Although much of the criticism in Congress against the current form of the law is coming from Republicans, the poll found that Democrats in the general public were more likely to want changes in the law than were Republicans.
The survey was conducted by telephone from May 6-27 among 1,010 adult residents of the United States who were selected at random. The survey was conducted by the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University under a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation.
The survey has a margin of error of about 3 percent, although the margin is somewhat higher when estimating support for the No Child Left Behind Act among different subgroups.
(Thomas Hargrove is a reporter for Scripps Howard News Service. Guido H. Stempel III is the director of the Scripps Survey Research Center.)
No child left to play
Congress....If in fact you choose to merely make adjustments to this law, please consider the psyche's our children, and consult with a panel of psychologists prior to doing it. Things you might ask them: Have our children been suffering to meet the expectations to achieve the standards which have been set for them due to this law? What are the statistics of anxiety related disorders in children, which are being brought on by the high expectations being imposed on them acedemically? Can a child this age be expected to acheive the goal being placed before him with ease?
My twin boys are in third grade, and are currently learning the standards I was taught in high school. Multiplication was presented to them in second grade. We are a two income family. Upon coming home from work, instead of being able to spend quality family time with our kids discussing life lessons, etc., my husband and I sit with them for sometimes 2 hours, due to the massive amount of homework they are assigned as to assure all their homework is completed. Back when I went to school, homework was not this big of a demand on my time. It only took a half hour at the most. I feel The lifestyles of our kids and families in America, as well as the creativity of our teachers are suffering due to this law.
While I believe that a good education is key to the life you live, and the jobs you work upon becoming an adult, I do believe we are "human beings" and not "human doings". I want my kids to have a good education, and I support that by assuring they tend to their studies. But, secretly, I wonder if we are pressing our children too hard at such an early age due to this law. Thank you for your time.
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I think The No Child Left
I think The No Child Left Behind Act has worked good for America's children.
I think that it should be abolished.
I am a sixteen year old student in Oklahoma. I have had straight A's all through school until my sophomore year. It is mostly due to the class enviroment's and all the distractions that come with them. I do not think that we should have abolished the "higher or gifted" classes for students. I do agree that students that can not get into these gifted classes should have a choice to take an Ap or Pre-Ap class. I loved my 7th grade Forum class. It was a hands-on history class that pushed us to try harder, look further into our education, and enjoy learning. Most of us learn with more of a hands-on mentality, and honestly, it worked wonders for me. Right now, I am in an on level history class that has a terrible learning enviroment, therefore making it harder for me and other students to learn. I think that we should abolish it and offer Pre-Ap and gifted classes to students that are willing and want to learn.
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Survey has been conducted but it should be conducted all over the United States. I know it has been done but why there are so many errors?
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This is for sure that the law has had a positive influence on public education while slightly less than half said it has had a negative impact and a fifth were undecided.
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I do not know why they would
I do not know why they would not think so, and whether they directly from the baby into an adult
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Congress....If in fact you
Congress....If in fact you choose to merely make adjustments to this law, please consider the psyche's our children, and consult with a panel of psychologists prior to doing it. Things you might ask them: Have our children been suffering to meet the expectations to achieve the standards which have been set for them due to this law? What are the statistics of anxiety related disorders in children, which are being brought on by the high expectations being imposed on them acedemically? Can a child this age be expected to acheive the goal being placed before him with ease?
My twin boys are in third grade, and are currently learning the standards I was taught in high school. Multiplication was presented to them in second grade. We are a two income family. Upon coming home from work, instead of being able to spend quality family time with our kids discussing life lessons, etc., my husband and I sit with them for sometimes 2 hours, due to the massive amount of homework they are assigned as to assure all their homework is completed. Back when I went to school, homework was not this big of a demand on my time. It only took a half hour at the most. I feel The lifestyles of our kids and families in America, as well as the creativity of our teachers are suffering due to this law.
While I believe that a good education is key to the life you live, and the jobs you work upon becoming an adult, I do believe we are "human beings" and not "human doings". I want my kids to have a good education, and I support that by assuring they tend to their studies. But, secretly, I wonder if we are pressing our children too hard at such an early age due to this law. Thank you for your time.
Restructure? amend? nope
This act needs no amendments or restructuring at all. It needs to be gone completely. Say you have a teacher who has taught history for ten years and intends to do so this year. Unfortunately his major in college was in biology and his minor was history so because of this he's considered "better qualified" to teach biology so he is switched gainst his will to teaching biology the next year (which he is terrible at since he hasnt taught or learned about it for over ten years). this is what happens with this act. Teachers are being switched to subjects they shouldnt be teaching and dont want to teach. the tests are a problem but the teacher switching is a bigger one
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