"In 1978, I was hired by Buffalo as a Title I ESEA corrective math teacher. At that time , testing was used to identify students who needed corrective math and reading instruction. I had contact with 50-plus students each year in the first through eighth grades. This small group instruction was beneficial, as indicated by their annual test results. The students were successful, I felt successful, parents praised the program because they saw their children thrive, and the school district was satisfied that the funds were well spent.

"Four years later, federal money was cut; I then was placed in a classroom of 32 fourth-grade students whose test results indicated that they had the same deficiencies that my previous Title I students had, yet these students were not given the support due to the lack of funding. As the years went on, NCLB modified the Title I ESEA, but my students still are not receiving the support and instruction they need to succeed in school and in life.

"My colleagues and I are being intimidated into using the test scores to prove that we are successful teachers. And many teachers, afraid of reprisals, have lost the joy they have for teaching. They are too busy cramming for and practicing tests with their students. Results are published. You must meet the standard. In the middle of all of this, children are losing out. In other words, it has become a case of 'forget the child, just prove you can make them score acceptably.'

"The fact is that students may actually need corrective math or reading instruction, but they will not receive it because for a teacher to admit having students who are below the standard is admitting failure as a teacher. No wonder so many teachers leave the profession!!"

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