The No Child Left Behind Act

I was wondering how people felt about "No Child Left Behind?" My thoughts are that Bush had good intentions when creating this but that is about it.

The primary goals of NCLB are that:

• All students will achieve high academic standards by attaining proficiency or better in reading and mathematics by the 2013–2014 school year.
• Highly qualified teachers will teach all students
• All students will be educated in schools and classrooms that are safe, drug free, and conducive to learning.
• All limited English proficient students will become proficient in English.
• All students will graduate from high school.

NCLB requires states to test students to ensure that these goals are met, and it holds schools, school districts, and states accountable for making demonstrable improvements toward meeting these goals. As I stated above, I do believe this act had good intentions but that is about it. I believe that schools are expecting teachers to teach to the test so that they can recieve funding. This is hurting our children  by not allowing them to think for themselves. When teachers ask children and young adults for their opinions they do not know how to answer. The children are so use to the "right or wrong" answers.
The controversial and politically explosive No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has placed both the Achievement Gap and the “value added vs. final status” controversy in stark relief. NCLB requires among other things that states specify for their schools “adequate yearly progress” toward reducing the achievement gap. The legislation has reawakened a host of old and difficult questions: What will we accept as “adequate yearly progress?” What role should standardized tests play in monitoring student achievement and in evaluating teacher and principal effectiveness? What is the best way to gauge “school effectiveness?” Put more starkly, What do we mean by a “successful” or “effective” school, and what do we mean by a “failing” or “unsuccessful” one?