NCLB - What counts doesn't really count

The No Child Left Behind act represents a very common trend in educational reform policies. Many of the policies are developed with a particular problem in mind, and even when the issues that are creating these problems are effectively identified, their implementation leaves much to be desired. The performance indicators used to effect these policies are ra rely accurately identified. For example, the test scores that are used to measure the schools' performance do not necessarily measure the important factors in successful education (i.e. problem solving, creative thinking etc). When test scores are used as primary indicators much of the education required for successful schooling of students is left by the wayside. Schools may end up focusing on the tests so much that the quality of the actual education drops in order to get the test scores up. If the test objectives and/or training processes were tied more accurately into the essential factors required to give each student an excellent education, perhaps the schools' emphasis on this initiative may have been effective. Again, the distance between policy makers and the end of the line for policy implementers (i.e. teachers) carries in it's expanse numerous opportunities for inaccuracy and deviance from the initial objectives. The more policy makers are able to include the voices of those who will implement their policies and maintain flexibility to include the many different scenarios and situations, the more accurate our performance indicators may be towards fixing the problems on the ground.