No Child Left Behind
No Child Left Behind Act 2021
Kindergarten: No child left behind.
But he cannot read his sight words.
It will be fine. Just have him look at the pictures and use the word that matches.
2nd Grade: No child left behind.
But she has no phonetic awareness. She cannot spell and struggles to sound out words.
It will be fine. Just use whole language strategies. Phonics is “outdated” anyhow.
3rd Grade: No child left behind.
But he no reading fluency skills.
It will be fine. Read to him or have a friend read to him. Make sure he has books with a lot of pictures.
5th Grade: No child left behind.
He is failing Reading, Social Studies, and Science and he cannot solve word problems in Math.
It will be fine. He has behavior issues and attention problems. Get him tested and put him on medication.
8th Grade: No child left behind.
She is in the lowest classes, can only read on a 4th grade reading level, and has no interest in attending school.
It will be fine. We will make sure she knows it is not her fault and we will tell her she can do anything (even if she cannot read).
12th Grade: No child left behind.
He is functionally illiterate, has had several run-ins with the law, only comes to school to socialize or fight.
It will be fine. He will graduate and have a high school diploma.
Do you see what this Act has done to our students over the past 20 years? It did not improve education. It is simply a smokescreen to make it look like public schools were doing their job because students were graduating. Millions of students are passed through the system without gaining the necessary skills to become independent, productive, and confident citizens in society. The piece of paper that is a high school diploma is worthless if they are functionally illiterate. These scenarios are not fictious but very real for too many.
No Child Left Behind, Common Core, Action Civics, and DEI, are all programs that came from the federal level and failed our students on a very local level. They are a waste of time, energy, and resources as well as a usurpation of parental and local authority over what is best for our children. In addition to lowering the academic rigor and standards for students, our public schools are now overstepping their boundaries by incorporating Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into the curriculum. As if it was not bad enough that students were not learning to read well, they are now forced to sit through “group therapy sessions” led by unlicensed therapists to help them determine whether they should feel oppressed, oppressive, racist, gender fluid, non-binary, or gay.
No Left Turn in Education is fighting on every level to restore integrity to the public education system. That means we are fighting the Department of Education’s intrusive involvement in local school decisions. It also means we are demanding our state legislators protect students from divisive curriculum and require full transparency from schools and teachers. We are exposing the disgusting material disguised as SEL as well as the books brought into the schools under that umbrella. No Left Turn is also encouraging and supporting quality candidates who are courageous enough to run for their local school boards. In addition to all those steps regarding the public school system, we are strongly encouraging parents to investigate alternatives and states to implement true school choice so more can take advantage of those alternative options.
There is much work to be done on every level. We are grassroots, which means we are the ones doing the work. Figure out where you can plug in and be effective, then do something. It will take every one of us to win this fight and make sure that no graduate of the public school system finds themselves dragged along to fail later rather than propelled forward to success. If you do not know where to start, contact your local NLTE Chapter President and get ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work.
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Beanie Geoghegan
I no longer teach in the classroom with my elementary and special education degrees, but I still consider myself an educator. I have used my passion for teaching raising my four children who are now young adults, as well as with the children I have volunteered my time with. I am currently using my skills to educate parents in Kentucky about the indoctrination happening in our public schools. I am thankful to have the support of my husband/high school sweetheart on this journey.
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