No Child Left Behind was an act that failed many students, and its replacement, the Every Student Succeeds Act, once again fails to meet the needs of students nationwide.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB), was written into law in 2002 to standardize testing, address the achievement gap and make sure no student fell through the cracks. The idea of NCLB seemed promising, but it failed to meet the needs of every learner.

The law required schools to group students based on race, disability and socioeconomic status. If one group of disadvantaged students didn’t meet certain achievement standards, the entire school was believed to be “underperforming,” according to National Public Radio. Schools began to focus more on their status as a school rather than every student’s individual needs.

According to a 2012 Gallup poll, 48 percent of Americans believed NCLB made education worse and 24 percent saw no impact. NCLB became more for schools than for students because schools competed to place higher than their counterparts. Comparisons between schools soon became common because schools wanted higher recognition.

Students were learning for schools’ status rather than for their needs.

According to Education Votes, retired California teacher Steve Eklund said NCLB ruined the student’s work environment and drove him into retirement. He said he felt he could no longer meet the needs of his students and was only allowed to prepare them to take standardized tests.

Research by Vanderbilt University found that because of NCLB, many schools with low test scores were closed. These school closures displaced students who couldn’t get the help they needed.

Because of this broken and expired law, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in December 2015 to ensure every student’s needs be met by different means of standardized testing.

Now, accountability is entirely up to states and teachers, varying standards of testing. ESSA gives states the freedom to break up standardized tests into shorter fragments. It permits states and teachers the flexibility to teach not only to pass tests but to teach more of what the teachers choose. Teachers are able to craft their lessons to meet the needs of all students rather than just telling them what to learn to pass a test.

This idea seems foolproof, but giving teachers and states more freedom to set their own standards breaks the educational system by decreasing test requirements and deviating standards.

The ESSA requires states to submit their accountability plan to the Department of Education. Instead of giving states the opportunity to set their own standards, states should be held to a federal standard because a student shouldn’t receive a different education based on where they live, specifically if that’s in a poverty-stricken or wealthy state. Students who don’t meet this standard should be given extra help.

After Obama signed ESSA, according to New York 1 News, New York governor Andrew Cuomo recommended the state replace common core learning standards. He plans to not use test scores in evaluating a school or teacher until 2019, which is something Minnesota and St. Louis Park School District needs to take into consideration.

The overall ideas of these acts are well-intentioned, but don’t fully meet the needs of all students. Every child can succeed and should be given the means necessary to fulfill that goal. Students everywhere learn at a different pace and need to be taught in ways that connect to them.

Instead of comparing test scores between students, the government should look at test scores between teachers and how well their students are doing.  Teachers have the power to help their students, and if they are kept to a nationwide standard so will their students.