Reading Rainbow Left Behind

How old were you when you learned that No Child Left Behind killed Reading Rainbow? My guess is you’re pretty old, because you remember *Reading Rainbow.* The program always had trouble securing funding. That’s just the nature of educational TV. It was also expensive to run a show like Reading Rainbow, publishers constantly increased the cost of reading books on television. The authors and celebrities who appeared weren’t paid, and sometimes paid for the production cost of their own segments.  

One way that they kept the lights on is through educational grants. However, No Child Left Behind changed the requirements for these grants, specifically the Ready to Learn Grant that was for programs which encouraged childhood learning and development. As we know Reading Rainbow was focused on fostering a life long love of reading in children. But, No Child Left Behind cut all funding for that, instead funding programs that taught phonics and spelling instead.  

No Child Left Behind was supposed to give schools more money for doing well on standardized tests, and hold failing schools accountable. Every student in America was supposed to be up to grade level with reading and math by 2014. The radial education gap between Black, Latino and White students was supposed to close.  

What really happened is states set their own unique goals, and failing schools learned to game the system. Schools in poorer states were left for dead without federal funding. I know what you’re thinking, were there any good things that came from No Child Left Behind? Just one. For the first time ever students with Down Syndrome had their education taken seriously and because of that the number of graduates with Down Syndrome reached an all time high. But it’s never that simple. 

Students who struggled with dyslexia and ADHD were more likely to be diagnosed and get the help they needed. Unfortunately, this was because a passing grade for them was a lower score than students who were not considered special needs. But a passing score would provide the same amount of funding. So schools began to usher dozens of children into special needs, who weren’t really special needs. I know, because when I moved to a new school, they tried to put me into special needs because I was non verbal. In reality, I just didn’t want to talk to them. I have to thank my mom for making sure I didn’t end up in a special needs class. 

Adding more children to special needs doesn’t automatically mean more funding for special needs, but there is an increased cost for educating special needs students. So while children with learning disabilities got more care, children with impairments such as blindness and especially deafness fell to the wayside because schools could not afford, or would not provide accommodations such as sign language interpreters. 

We have been left with a ridiculous list of problems caused by or accelerated by No Child Left Behind:

• Cut Electives
• Racism  
• Crushing schools with unrealistic goals 
• Schools gaming the system 
• Focus on compliance not progression 
• Teaching to pass test and not learn 
• Sped up school to prison pipeline  
• Racism again 
• Increased state taxes because lack of federal education funding 
• Reading Rainbow 
• Teachers forced to pass failing students 
• Everyone is way behind on reading and math 

Wanting to improve our education system is a noble cause. No Child Left Behind was not the way to do it and we’re still suffering in 2023 due to it. There is no one size fits all plan for schools and more importantly, students. However, there are things that have been proven to work; teaching students life skills as well as academic skills. Schools such Robert Coleman School in Baltimore have begun teaching meditation and yoga for mental and physical health as well as conflict resolution. It can be as simple as changing the time school starts for high school students. But leaving the children behind was not the way to do it.