Schools need improvements

The No Child Left Behind Act, signed by President Bush in January 2002, designated an accountability standard, requiring statewide exams to track the progress of students and teachers. What the president has done, essentially, is drive a stake into the weakening heart of American education. Today, that wound is exposed -- out of Indiana's 292 school districts, 270 do not meet federal standards.\nTo conform to an earlier federal mandate, Indiana created the Indiana State Testing for Educational Progress program. Now students must take one (sometimes two) exam(s) in grades three through ten. There are also Core-40 exams for additional classes including 11th grade English and Algebra I, with more pending exams in coming years. Instructors are no longer teaching their students skills and knowledge; they are teaching them to take tests. \n"Children today need critical thinking skills, creativity, perseverance, and integrity -- qualities not measured on a standardized test," said Dr. Paul Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, on the AASA Web site.\nAccountability is good, and even necessary. School systems that spend federal money recklessly or hire uncertified teachers should be reevaluated, but No Child Left Behind is creating an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. Schools not meeting state mandated standards run the risk of being shut down. \nThese new standards also set the precedent for what could result in re-segregation in our nation's classrooms. Growing numbers of high to mid-income families may choose private schools not subject to these government controls. This could create an environment where lower income students are stuck in poorly performing systems without money or resources. \nThe solutions are simple, but require funding, which the government isn't apt to give anytime soon in these recessional times. \nFirst, students need smaller classes to have more intimate access to their teachers. Smaller class sizes would allow a teacher to better cater his or her teaching styles to the individual needs of the students. \nSecond, schools need to offer more incentives to prospective teachers and offer more incentives for teachers to stay. Higher salaries and better benefit packages would inspire prospective teachers to try lower income school systems and encourage them to stick around for more than just a few years. \nThird, money is needed to repair and build schools, thus giving students a cleaner, healthier environment. \nFinally, improved programs for remedial, learning disabled and foreign students are needed. Helping these students excel will increase a school's overall performance, improving graduation rates.\nThere's no denying the United States needs to improve its education system. It lags behind the rest of the world, despite its economic superiority. But politicians in today's society are looking for quick fixes (i.e., standardized tests, school vouchers, charter schools) rather than long-term solutions. Only when the federal government has given more money to school systems and allows them to hire more and better teachers, can we begin to take steps towards a brighter academic future where no child is left behind. \n- Jason Gaddis for the Editorial Board