Chicago Sun-Times
January 10, 2008
No Child hasn’t worked

The Monday commentary [''Here are three kids left behind"] points out that since the No Child Left Behind law passed, there has been no improvement for high schoolers in Chicago. This isn’t the only test No Child has failed.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings claims that scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading tests are at all-time highs, but the improvement took place before No Child was implemented. On an international reading literacy test given to fourth-graders, American children scored 542 in 2001 and 540 in 2006. No Child hasn’t worked, despite billions of dollars spent and an incredible amount of time wasted in school.

Stephen Krashen,
professor emeritus,
University of Southern California, Los Angeles