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【Abstract】The present paper first reviewed the historical background of American basic education. Then it discussed the necessity of NCLB policy from economical， people and the world’s request. After this， this paper critically analyzed the text and the implementation of NCLB. Finally， it concludes that the idea of NCLB was not wrong， but its text and implementation should be more carefully planned.
【Key words】educational policy； standardized test； education and society
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 （NCLB）， was an educational policy announced by American former president George W. Bush not long after his inauguration. The purpose of this Act was to improve the quality of American basic education and “to close the achievement gap with accountability， flexibility， and choice， so that no child is left behind （see NCLB original Act）.” Although it had now been replaced by President Obama’s Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015， this policy which favored in a nation-wide standard test， can still serve as a significant reference for basic education in China where exams are still crucial to students.
During the time of NCLB， American’s basic education system had gone through a revolutionary change. Bush government believed it was a great success whereas public discussion involved strong complaints from students， teachers， parents and schools due to heavy pressure for preparing the annual standardized tests and the worries for children’s losing their imagination and creativity. Both views sounded reasonable， but to judge NCLB critically， further investigation and analysis needs to be done. Foucault described critique as “to identify and expose the unrecognized forms of power in people’s lives （Foucault， 1988）.” As policy is made by human beings and all these complex human emotions and desires for best interest will go into it. Thus， “reading educational policy is not just a matter of understanding its educational context or reading it as the ‘pronouncements’ of the ‘policy makers’. It requires an understanding of the dynamics if the various elements in the social structure and their intersections in the context of history （Olssen et al.， 2004）.”
Hence， the present paper looks into NCLB from its historical background and current text and its implementation. After a review of American basic education， this paper seeks to find the main causes for the formation of NCLB. Then critical analysis is made on both text and implementation of NCLB. 1. American Basic Education Review
Americans started to enhance their basic education system in the late 19th century. Since the announcement of US compulsory education law in 1892， more and more students were able to receive school education. At that time， basic education’s focus was placed more on quantity rather than quality because the rapid economic development and the ever enlarging industrialized market required huge amount of skilled workers. The whole society was overwhelmed by Dewey’s pragmatism theory. Different from traditional educational thoughts， pragmatist believed that “practical consequences and real effects were the vital components of meaning and truth （Bayles， 1966）.” This was to say， if students were not going to use the knowledge they learnt from school， then all the teaching and learning was mere waste of time. Dewey severely criticized the previous teacher-centered education and promoted what he called “student-centered” education. He believed students should decide what they wanted to learn， where to learn and using what method. Dewey’s pragmatism met the needs of the society at that time therefore it was adopted by most of the American public schools.
1957， Soviet Union launched its first satellites into Earth orbit and this greatly shocked the capitalism world， especially when Americans began to take a second look at their public education and surprisingly found their children did not have the basic understanding of science， history， arts or literature. This consequence was derived from the over emphasis on practical skills. Schools offered wide range of curriculum so that students chose to avoid Science and Math courses because those were too difficult and useless. As the well-known American educationalist Conant suggested in his book：“Education today cannot bring our country intelligent scientists or engineers that we need， but only skilled workers. Public education， therefore， should shift its focus to the internal and intellectual scientific development （Savickas， 2002）.” Another feature of Conant’s thought was to classify students into different classes based on their ability. He suggested giving students who were likely to work more practical classes whereas talented students more academic courses such as foreign language， math and science （Conant， 1959）. Although Conant’s call for the emphasis on science and math education worked effectively at that time， his elite education gave a really bad beginning to education equity. Due to the different learning conditions such as language proficiency level， family economic background and socio-cultural environment， white students always took the lead. The achievement gap between students widened gradually. 2. Formation of NCLB
1980s， survived from the destructive economic crisis， American’s economy began to rebound. After one decade， the whole world moved into a new era with three features：knowledge economy， high-tech revolution and globalization. This has also greatly influenced American society.
First of all， businessmen realized that as the fast development of high-technology， the job that could be done by a high school graduate now required a college student because it became more complex. But what kind of high school students did basic education bring them？In the famous educational report A Nation at Risk， 1983， it said：“many 17-year-olds do not possess the ‘higher order’ intellectual skills we should expect of them；nearly 40 percent cannot draw inferences from written material （see A Nation at Risk）.” Then fifteen years later， U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige severely pointed out in his speech that after A Nation at Risk warned that too many children were falling （see Rod’s speech）. Given this fact， companies and corporations had to spend extra fund on staff training rather than making investments elsewhere. Therefore American’s economic development asked for a better basic education.
In the second place， with the world’s becoming a village， the number of minority in the U.S. was increasing and they were unsatisfied with basic education. These people （mostly Hispanic， black， Asian and native inhabitants） were the biggest student group for basic education because usually they could not afford to go to private schools. A table based on a research of 665 public schools in the US showed that， white students only account for a small percentage of the total number and they were the least poor group. According to academic achievement， Asian and white children were above average with Asian’s especially good at math whilst black and Hispanic students were less satisfied （Arrighi
【Key words】educational policy； standardized test； education and society
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 （NCLB）， was an educational policy announced by American former president George W. Bush not long after his inauguration. The purpose of this Act was to improve the quality of American basic education and “to close the achievement gap with accountability， flexibility， and choice， so that no child is left behind （see NCLB original Act）.” Although it had now been replaced by President Obama’s Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015， this policy which favored in a nation-wide standard test， can still serve as a significant reference for basic education in China where exams are still crucial to students.
During the time of NCLB， American’s basic education system had gone through a revolutionary change. Bush government believed it was a great success whereas public discussion involved strong complaints from students， teachers， parents and schools due to heavy pressure for preparing the annual standardized tests and the worries for children’s losing their imagination and creativity. Both views sounded reasonable， but to judge NCLB critically， further investigation and analysis needs to be done. Foucault described critique as “to identify and expose the unrecognized forms of power in people’s lives （Foucault， 1988）.” As policy is made by human beings and all these complex human emotions and desires for best interest will go into it. Thus， “reading educational policy is not just a matter of understanding its educational context or reading it as the ‘pronouncements’ of the ‘policy makers’. It requires an understanding of the dynamics if the various elements in the social structure and their intersections in the context of history （Olssen et al.， 2004）.”
Hence， the present paper looks into NCLB from its historical background and current text and its implementation. After a review of American basic education， this paper seeks to find the main causes for the formation of NCLB. Then critical analysis is made on both text and implementation of NCLB. 1. American Basic Education Review
Americans started to enhance their basic education system in the late 19th century. Since the announcement of US compulsory education law in 1892， more and more students were able to receive school education. At that time， basic education’s focus was placed more on quantity rather than quality because the rapid economic development and the ever enlarging industrialized market required huge amount of skilled workers. The whole society was overwhelmed by Dewey’s pragmatism theory. Different from traditional educational thoughts， pragmatist believed that “practical consequences and real effects were the vital components of meaning and truth （Bayles， 1966）.” This was to say， if students were not going to use the knowledge they learnt from school， then all the teaching and learning was mere waste of time. Dewey severely criticized the previous teacher-centered education and promoted what he called “student-centered” education. He believed students should decide what they wanted to learn， where to learn and using what method. Dewey’s pragmatism met the needs of the society at that time therefore it was adopted by most of the American public schools.
1957， Soviet Union launched its first satellites into Earth orbit and this greatly shocked the capitalism world， especially when Americans began to take a second look at their public education and surprisingly found their children did not have the basic understanding of science， history， arts or literature. This consequence was derived from the over emphasis on practical skills. Schools offered wide range of curriculum so that students chose to avoid Science and Math courses because those were too difficult and useless. As the well-known American educationalist Conant suggested in his book：“Education today cannot bring our country intelligent scientists or engineers that we need， but only skilled workers. Public education， therefore， should shift its focus to the internal and intellectual scientific development （Savickas， 2002）.” Another feature of Conant’s thought was to classify students into different classes based on their ability. He suggested giving students who were likely to work more practical classes whereas talented students more academic courses such as foreign language， math and science （Conant， 1959）. Although Conant’s call for the emphasis on science and math education worked effectively at that time， his elite education gave a really bad beginning to education equity. Due to the different learning conditions such as language proficiency level， family economic background and socio-cultural environment， white students always took the lead. The achievement gap between students widened gradually. 2. Formation of NCLB
1980s， survived from the destructive economic crisis， American’s economy began to rebound. After one decade， the whole world moved into a new era with three features：knowledge economy， high-tech revolution and globalization. This has also greatly influenced American society.
First of all， businessmen realized that as the fast development of high-technology， the job that could be done by a high school graduate now required a college student because it became more complex. But what kind of high school students did basic education bring them？In the famous educational report A Nation at Risk， 1983， it said：“many 17-year-olds do not possess the ‘higher order’ intellectual skills we should expect of them；nearly 40 percent cannot draw inferences from written material （see A Nation at Risk）.” Then fifteen years later， U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige severely pointed out in his speech that after A Nation at Risk warned that too many children were falling （see Rod’s speech）. Given this fact， companies and corporations had to spend extra fund on staff training rather than making investments elsewhere. Therefore American’s economic development asked for a better basic education.
In the second place， with the world’s becoming a village， the number of minority in the U.S. was increasing and they were unsatisfied with basic education. These people （mostly Hispanic， black， Asian and native inhabitants） were the biggest student group for basic education because usually they could not afford to go to private schools. A table based on a research of 665 public schools in the US showed that， white students only account for a small percentage of the total number and they were the least poor group. According to academic achievement， Asian and white children were above average with Asian’s especially good at math whilst black and Hispanic students were less satisfied （Arrighi