Left behind

To the Editor:

Congress, which convened this month, needs to bring a complete makeover of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) to the top of its agenda.

This highly acclaimed law has the delusive appearance of being the cure-all for public schools. It appears to be a colossal myth that "no child is left behind." In fact, many children every day are being left behind and left out.

Numerous schools are facing escalating penalties and are being denied the necessary resources to remedy their problems. If NCLB is here to stay, Congress should allocate the funding needed to carry out its mandates.

Flexibility also should be built into the system of accountability, which would allow poor urban and rural schools to meet the unique needs of their students.

One way to eliminate NCLB's flaws is by providing social workers in every school. These specialists do an excellent job providing interventions and services to children at risk of educational failure.

NCLB also should focus on how to get more parents involved in the schools. No matter how hard schools work to improve student education, much of the battle is lost if parents are apathetic and uninvolved.

Further, the law must deemphasize national standardized testing. The cultural bias aspects of these tests are wreaking havoc on many minority students. And with the current overemphasis, some teachers are busy teaching the test and little else.

On paper, the rhetoric-loaded NCLB seems spectacular. In real life, however, this law is long overdue for a makeover. Congress is duty-bound to fix it because when America fails to deliver excellence in education, it only perpetuates the national cycle of poverty.

Dr. Maxine Myers Agazie

Albany State University