Kozol discredits NCLB

Before a standing-room-only crowd of students, area teachers and administrators, Jonathan Kozol advocated for an end to No Child Left Behind legislation.

Now 71, Kozol is a former elementary school teacher who has written numerous nonfiction books that explore social and racial issues in the nation’s public schools. His presentation on October 16 in the Eberhard Center was sponsored by the College of Interdisciplinary Studies, as part of its Conversations on Poverty and Economic Justice, Office of Multicultural Affairs and College of Education.

He said NCLB forces some teachers to teach only tested material, in efforts to raise scores at their schools and continue to receive federal funding. This occurs more in inner-city schools, Kozol said, not suburban schools.

“In the suburbs, teachers don’t feel this anxiety,” he said. “Wealthy districts don’t need Title I money. This results in principals handing teachers scripts for the day. In New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, every minute of each school day is spent learning a test subject.”
Kozol did say there are “hundreds of thousands” of good teachers, including the first-grade teacher he profiles in his latest book, Letters to a Young Teacher . “Our challenge is not to recruit more teachers, our challenge is to retain them,” he said.

Jonathan Kozol signs books after his presentation in the Eberhard Center.