No Cash Left Behind

NCLB: No Cash Left Behind

by

Varo Borja

I was perusing an article in Harper’s magazine the other day about the implementation of testing preparatory agencies in America’s schools. This article paid particular attention to the Kaplan testing agency, and was written by a current employee of that company. The article stated, in sum, that because of the No Child Left Behind act, test prep agencies are raking in an enormous amount of revenue, especially from Title I schools. Furthermore, the article stated that these test prep agencies don’t show results, other than inflated budgets and downtown Manhattan office suites. The author of the article, Jeremy Miller, also stated that many of the teacher s in the schools that he has worked with are indignant about having to implement curriculum bonuses such as the Kaplan method into their already time constrained schedules. The Kaplan method takes 40 hours of class time to complete, and many schools, once they have failed to meet NCLB criteria, have no choice but to employ agencies such as Kaplan at inflated rates, with little to show for their efforts. Mr. Miller states that the Kaplan company pays him at least 10,000 dollars more a year than the highest paid first year teachers in the nation make, and the total revenue from the Kaplan company, which is a part of the Washington Post group, has exceeded 2 billion dollars for the past fiscal year. Mr. Miller goes on to say that companies such as the Kaplan group focus solely on “correct answers” to tests such as the SAT, and slight or totally ignore education philosophies that focus their efforts on process learning, or to put it mildly, real education. Companies such as Kaplan are bilking the U.S. taxpayer of billions of dollars, and what does the average citizen have to show for it? Nothing other than the discarded Kaplan materials passed out in under-achieving schools that most of the students don’t even bother to read, let alone comprehend. The Kaplan company has been evasive at best when questioned by journalists as to its credibility and viability, but as long as the NCLB act stands, companies such as Kaplan and The Princeton Review (another spurious test prep agency) will continue to prosper, and Title I funds that could be spent on worthwhile programs and teacher salary increases will go down the proverbial toilet along with the future of many underprivileged children.