Congress would be well served by listening to the input of the National Association of Social Workers. This organization can help eliminate many of NCLB’s flaws by providing school social workers in every K-12 school. These specialized social workers do an excellent job providing interventions and services to children and families at risk of educational failure. But in Albany, Ga., for example, the Dougherty County Public School System has 27 public schools but only three school social workers.

NCLB also should focus on how to get more parents involved in the schools.

No matter how hard schools work to improve student education, much of the battle is lost if parents are apathetic and uninvolved.

The voucher system is another area that needs to be completely overhauled.

The schools that are failing should not be forced to spend money to send their brilliant students to other schools when they should be using their limited resources to improve their own schools.

Further, the law must de-emphasize national standardized testing. The cultural bias aspects of these tests are wreaking havoc on many minority students. And with the current overemphasis, some teachers are busy teaching the test and little else. Also, adequate funding and not “funding on paper� should be provided to struggling schools to create innovative tactics to empower subgroups and elevate their test scores.

On paper, the rhetoric-loaded NCLB seems spectacular. In real life, however, this law is long overdue for a makeover. Congress is duty-bound to fix it because when America fails to deliver excellence in education, it only perpetuates the national cycle of poverty.

— Dr. Maxine Myers Agazie is a professor of social work at Albany State University.