NCLB Reflection

"Making Sure That Schools Measure Up." Education Week, vol. 36, no. 16, 4 Jan. 2017, pp. 18-20. EBSCOhost. PDF. In this periodical article, Alyson Klein, reporter for Education Week, reflects on Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), an update to the K-12 education law, in the one year since it was passed in 2016. Klein discusses how the ESSA was designed to improve shortcomings of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the previous version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Klein also examines concerns over greater flexibility given to states and districts regarding issues such as standardized test, school choice, marginalized students. The Obama administration wrote how the accountability portion of the law would work, allowing states to pick their own goals, both a long term goal and short term goals. These goals must address students’ proficiency on tests, English-language proficiency, and graduation

Every year since 2002, the goal has been to increase the AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). With the plan that was set, by 2014 every student should be able to pass every exam. If schools cannot meet the specified AYP, it becomes identified as a school needing improvement. If no improvement occurs the school will be subject to a complete takeover. There are very specific categories of progress that need to be reported. Every sub group needs to have improvement in its AYP. “‘The result is that the lowest-performing subgroup will ultimately determine the proficiency of a school, district or state,’ says Rich Cardullo, one of the authors of a paper published in the September 26th issue of Science magazine, which analyzes testing data from California's elementary schools” (“All students proficient on state tests by 2014,” 2008).

The first school in the district to present was Bradford Area High School. The principle, Mr. Ray, spoke saying that overall the school scored a 77.9%. The goal he has set for his school is to improve college prep classes, mastery skills in standardized testing, and to continue to revamp the science curriculum since it is the lowest scores on the state’s testing. I feel this could affect me as a future teacher because I would know what I need to work on more with my students. In addition, this could mean more jobs available to college prep classes.

I completed my observation hours at Williams Elementary School. This is an elementary school for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade which has a total of 671 students. Their accountability rating for the year of 2015 was rated as met standard. They met standards on all the categories which are: student achievement, student progress, closing performance gaps and postsecondary readiness.

The current version of the “Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001” is “The NO Child Left Behind Act of 2001”. Which supports “standard-base” education reform, each state is responsible for developing assessments in basic skills and standards. The Federal Government’s plays a part over seeing in annual testing, annual academic progress, report cards, teacher qualifications, and funding changes. This law was originally apart of the Johnson administration’s war on poverty campaign to improve educational equity for students form lower income families. This law has been revised seven time most recently in January of 2002. Schools who fail to make adequate yearly progress for two years in a row the school is flagged for a “school improvement plan”. Has to devote at least 10 % of its federal funding to teacher’s professional development, then if the school still does not show improvement within three years corrective action is taken and the school must interventions to improve school performance from a list of legislations. If improvements are not made for a fourth year are supposed to be restructured with more rigorous interventions. If the school still fails to make yearly progress in the fifth year there is actions taken such as reconstruction faculty, leadership and governance arrangements by converting to a charter school, or converting to a privately management company. The

For every major I advise, I make a concerted effort to learn all the intricacies of the major and develop a relationship with the program directors or chairpersons. I regularly attend the RN-BSN curriculum meetings, so I can stay abreast of upcoming changes to the program requirements. I also apprise faculty of issues students are having and make suggestions for possible improvements. One of the suggestions implemented was moving admission to the program from an application process to a more automated process, thus saving students a few steps.

Change is inevitable. When the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative finally became defunct, a new accountability system emerged. In San Francisco Unified School District, central administrative teams began a transition phase starting as early as four to five years ago when Common Core State Standards were introduced to low performing schools. As the Instructional Reform Facilitator during that time, it was exciting because new and more robust learning/content standards also required a change in our approach to instruction and assessment. This was the lever in my mind that this could help close the achievement gap. However this new initiative also brings uncertainty and apprehension for many teachers.

This is also occurring by scoring of teachers in these diverse school districts negating individual school district needs. This viscous circle undercuts the needs of students and teachers, to make current informed performance goals in accurate and fair treatment for teachers and students. The intended purpose of feedback from these principals is to meet strategic goals, establish standards, compare performance to standards, and make corrections to the system thru the monitoring the organizations they represent, identifying the activities then taking corrective

The repercussions established by the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, commonly referred to as NCLB, have left many school districts searching for possibilities to address the specific learning needs of classified students that fall under the guidelines of special education such as students with learning disabilities, as well as other various classifications of scholars with special needs. NCLB also addresses the specific needs of English Language Learners, or ELL, in addition to other struggling students that fall under Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act. A paramount focus of this act is to increase student achievement in middle school mathematics. However, the result of NCLB has created a gap in academic achievement

When the “No Child Left Behind Act” was signed in 2001, schools were required to meet state standards (Myers, 2015). One way to assess if schools are meeting state standards is through a series of high-stakes tests, also known as standardized assessment tests. These assessments hold instructors, districts, schools, states, and students accountable for the students’ performance. The students’ scores can have a dire effect on the school itself. For instance, if a school showed that no progress was achieved, they may lose financial funding (Myers, 2015).

This paper has forced me to dig deeper into the thought of my career and the school I chose. For me to find more information on Psychology I used many resources to help me pave the way to be successful. I am interested in pursuing my goal at North Carolina Central University in the fall of 2019. The information that I found helped me make the decision of attending the school. Since I was not able to visit the school I took an online virtual tour and found that the garden is one of the most peaceful places on campus. Watching some of the videos on the NCCU website really helped me learn more about the life of a student at NCCU and the struggles that some students face. The interviews that were required for this paper was a great help. I learned

During my freshman year, I also took part in an organization called “Inspiring minds” that is supported by the Providence College Education club. “Inspiring Minds” is an organization that places people into Providence inner-city classrooms to work with a group or a single student as a mentor to help them with their schooling as well as act as role models. From October until May, I worked in a Kindergarten ELL classroom with a diversity of children and challenges. Although I greatly enjoyed being welcomed every week by thirty adorable six year olds smiling and running to give you a hug, I despised the way the classroom was ran. Based off both my intuition and the lessons the professors at PC have engraved in my memory, the classroom was not well managed, lacked community and procedures, and the teachers did not act appropriately. My experience in

As a result of the “No Child Left Behind Act” 2001 (NCLB) that was set in place in Texas and in every school in the United States, public schools are now held accountable for the progress and learning of every child enrolled in that school. A standardized test issued by Texas in Texas schools, now determines if the entire district is meeting required elements in order to continue receiving funding and accreditation to continue offering education in that district. The testing has brought forth unethical practices by school administrators, which are cooking the books in order to make the district appear that they are performing at peak levels. Not only are there unethical practices among the administrators, but the test is standardized across

A more detailed breakdown of each layer of the the school system can help analyze which aspects are failing. Starting with the teachers, the nutrients in the soil; the seed is introduced to the first factor affecting student learning and progress. The No Child Left Behind initiative has accumulated some bugs. Rather than improving opportunities so that each child is receiving equal chances to close the achievement gap, the outcomes of sometimes misrepresented data is being monitored and recorded. This means, while the purpose of educational proposals are to close the achievement gap, this act had unexpected opposite effects. This is due in part to the way schools are graded, which is based off results of standardized test scores and similar tracking identifications like attendance (Educators Share, 2015). After the results are reported to the state, a grade is administered to the school district and teachers. If proficiency is not met for two years, changes can be made at

During this week, I spent a lot of time preparing for the NCMHCE exam that I had scheduled for April 22. My supervisor and I took time to review practice simulations and briefly went over each set of DSM-5 diagnoses.