School Beat: the Scandals of NCLB

Having a sound basis for using a certain method makes sense, but the absolute reliance on the ability to describe outcomes quantitatively is suspect, since meaningful assessments of literacy skills require more than that. As with some other programs NCLB has introduced, such as supplementary tutoring, a primary purpose of the Reading First component seems to have been to create a fast-track to funnel state dollars used to purchase literacy education materials into the coffers of just a few producers of those same materials. Language such as “scientific” and “evidenced-based” simply served to provide the authoritative cover under which to hide this intention.

Many might argue that since NCLB is sufficiently scandalous in the way it reduces education to standardized curricula and tests, narrows the subjects taught and the pedagogical methods employed that there is no need to look further. While there is a certain truth to this, the flagrant and sustained corruption that occurred with Reading First is particularly important to expose. The impropriety not only clearly breached ethical norms, it serves as a clear example of the privatization goals of NCLB and of the underlying philosophy that profit making is of greater importance than educating our society’s kids.

The Reading First debacle, though making few headlines outside of education circles, has come to the fore again as the Department of Education (DOE) has had its internal affairs exposed in two recent high profile publications. The first was in the report by the Commission on NCLB, which amid all the recommendations for even more standardized testing and tracking of teachers gave a pro forma hand slapping to the DOE and called for more measures to prevent internal bias from occurring in the future.

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