Children Left Behind Under 'No Child Left Behind'

The "No Child Left Behind" law, as it has been implemented by the Bush administration, has failed in its mission to lift up schools.

• After 7 years of No Child Left Behind, only one in three fourth graders are reading at or above proficiency levels. The policy has left African Americans even further behind: only one in 10 black fourth graders are reaching these levels.
• Over the past 10 years, the average salary for public schoolteachers increased only 1.3 percent after adjusting for inflation, not enough to keep pace with the soaring costs of housing, health care and gasoline.
• Nearly half of all teachers leave the profession during their first five years.
• Only 70 percent of entering freshmen and barely half of students of color finish high school with a regular diploma four years later. Every school day, nearly 7,000 American high school students become dropouts.