Gov. Phil Bredesen announced recently that a large majority of Tennessee public schools have met all federal educational standards in accordance to the No Child Left Behind legislation.
Approximately 81 percent of Tennessee public schools have met all requirements while 11 percent of the schools that did not meet all of the standards only missed in one category.
While this is only the second year for the federal education law, Education Commissioner Lana Seivers said the state is working to meet the needs of students in every school district.
“There is no silver bullet when it comes to education, but when we direct the needed attention and resources to schools, we ultimately improve Tennessee’s economy and quality of life,” Seivers said.
In a press release, Bredesen said there is still much to do, particularly in the 19 percent of schools missing the NCLB mark.
“We are committed to working with those schools that are not measuring up and to improve education for all children across the state,” he said.
In order to meet the federal requirements, several different programs were implemented this year by the Tennessee Department of Education. One of these programs was the Exemplary Educators service, which trained selected veteran teachers to help develop plans to improve student achievement. More than 100 department trained educators are working in schools that require additional help to meet federal requirements.
NCLB was an unfunded mandate issued in 2001 as part of President George W. Bush’s education platform.
Part of the mandate requires that every child from third through eighth grade take a standardized test to check their progress in reading and mathematics. High school students must take similar standardized tests at least once in their high school career. The tests and what score is acceptable for each age group is then decided by the state governments.
The National Education Association has criticized NCLB for focusing on punishments rather than assistance. The biggest change the NEA and other NCLB critics would like to see is an alternative to standardized testing for schools.
