Teachers, did NCLB improve academic outcomes?

[Anonymous]

From a purely academic level, I was wondering if No Child Left Behind has helped. Are kids reading better, and are they doing math better? I know all of the other pains that it has caused, but I am just curious about the academic side for kids.
My nephew, I believe would have been a lot better off if he had been in school during NCLB. He was behind in the early years and the teachers did NOTHING. Now in HS, he struggles.

[Anonymous]

I am the teacher who posted on the other question about public/private schools and said I did not think NCLB was that bad for certain populations. I think it really has forced schools to focus more on the kids who sometimes get "left behind" - the non-native English speakers, the Special Ed students, the low income students. All the results for the tests are broken down by ethnicity, language level, learning disabled, etc and if a school doesn't reach proficiency in one of those categories, they may lose accreditation. So, in that respect, yes, I believe NCLB has helped students in special populations not be left behind. For the rest of the students - those who may not have academic, economic, or language issues, no, I don't really think it has helped. We definitely teach more to the test and there is not as much reading, discussion, and higher level thinking going on (at a high school level), because we are forced to move so quickly. So, I really think it depends who you are talking about when you ask if NCLB has been a success or not.

[Anonymous]

I am a graduate student in education and I agree with the pp. NCLB has helped the neediest kids.

[Anonymous]

School administrator here I disagree with both post. I do not believe NCLB assist the neediest children. It requires these groups of students ESOL, SPED, and FARMS to take a test above their performance level which in most cases is not an accurate measure of a school nor the students ability. In many cases students take the test with accomodations.

I think schools are improving because School Administrators are holding teachers, parents, students, and the community accountable. The key to school success is accountability not NCLB and it's unfair mandates that measure students achievement based soley on test scores and basically makes educators teach to the test to increase test scores while sacraficing student achievement.

[Anonymous]

pp, did NCLB make the schools, parents, and teachers accountable?

[Anonymous]

PP - No I do not believe NCLB made schools, parents, students, teachers, and the community more accountable. School Administrators and Leadership teams have utilized monitoring tools for years to track student achievement in order to make sound instructional decisions. This is the key to accountability; monitoring student progress and making decisions in their best interest.

[Anonymous]

OP here: Thanks for the response. Are there any cases where you think it actually hurt kids academically?
And do you know of any teachers who actually left teaching or retired early because of it?