How Children Become the Victims of the No Child Left Behind Act

The No Child Left Behind Act was designed to improve the performance of schools, however the system continues to fail the special needs population. President George W. Bush believed that improving standards of accountability for teachers, school districts, and schools it would improve overall performance of students. The act was also designed to enable parents to choose what school their child would attend if they became victim to a poor school system. Performance is measured through state mandated standardized tests which establish basic skills. Teacher quality strongly affects the performance of special needs students, along with the qualifications of the support staff. The No Child Left Behind Act clearly is not designed to fit every student, because it fails to address the needs of the growing special needs population. Currently, autism one of the fastest growing disabilities however, this act fails to require teachers and other staff to have certificates to understand how to work with these students. As a result, many special needs children are being left behind, along with many other students. Students in the United States of America are failing to see the benefits of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.