No Child Left Behind
Introduction
The No Child Left Behind Act (NALB) was signed into law by the former President of the United States George Walker Bush on the 8th of January 2002. It was a congressional attempt to encourage student achievement through some reforms focused on elementary and secondary education programs in the United States. The NCLB requires that within a decade all students including those with disabilities to perform at a proficient level on their state academic evaluation tests. The stated goal of the NCLB is to make certain that all children receive a fair, equal, and a significant chance to get a high-quality education, and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on the challenging state academic achievement assessments and
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Many of these students with disabilities had been traditionally left off from state evaluation and testing programs. The NCLB thus ensured full participation of all students and was expected to be an intimidating experience for ones with disabilities.
A key perception that provoked the implementation of the NCLB was that the system of public elementary as well as secondary schooling in the U.S. was fragmented and jumbled. There were too many schools that were focused on their inadequate performance objectives insufficiently. This organizational slack reproduced weak incentives as well as a lack of accountability by teachers and the administrators of the schools. Further, the interests of the teachers and school administrators were viewed as imperfectly allied with those of the parents who could not make decisions or evaluate the decisions made by school administers and teachers regarding their children’s education easily. While all parents would want to see their children perform well in schools, some of the teachers and administrators were more interested in getting their salaries than helping students perform excellently. They would be comfortable with their students’ average performance and would not even go an extra mile to further ensure more improvement. Parents were less involved by
The NCLB was structured to place the responsibility of our children on the shoulders of each state individually. In addition, it is also beneficial to parents and students who are living in impoverished communities with little to no resources available resulting in low performing test scores. The NCLB also states that local educational agencies now have federal education funding in their disposal.
According to Klein (2015), NCLB was the result of a coordinated effort between civil rights and business groups, both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, and the Bush Administration, which tried to advance American competitiveness and close the achievement gap between poor and minority children and their more privileged counterparts. Subsequent to 2002, NCLB has made a huge impact on teaching, learning, and school improvement. It has also become progressively debatable with teachers and the general public.
The NCLB Act has become the largest intervention by the federal government. This act promises to improve student learning and to close the achievement gap between the white students and students of color. The law is aimed at having standardized test to measure student performance and quality of teacher. The Standardized exams are fully focused on reading and mathematics. This law characterizes an unequalled extension of the federal role into the realm of local educational accountability. High school graduation rates are also a requirement as an indicator of performance at secondary level. In low performing schools they get punished by receiving less funds and students have the choice to move to high performing school. The quality of our
I became interested in NCLB act, because I work with Special needs students in early childhood setting. These students are delayed preschoolers who receive services such as speech therapy, and occupational therapy to address their needs. The majority of students will graduate in June 2016, and they will attend kindergarten within the public school Educational system. I am concerned about their progress when they attend the public school under this law NCLB that would offer them the supports necessary to achieve success as this peers within similar disabilities,
Bush’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal policy. Both Clinton and Bush administrations regulated freedom of choice within their educational policies. Clinton’s Goals 2000 increased standards for student scores within core subjects. Legislation targeting Title I, required States and school districts to “turn-around” low-performing schools, and in 1993, public charter schools increased to over 2, 000 (www.clinton5.nara.gov). Bush’s No Child Left Behind’s structure demanded high-stakes testing and created provision for privatization of public education, as well as “school choice .” No Child Left Behind not only increased the Clinton’s strong accountability disposition, but it also superimposed a new set of accountability rules that would adversely affect public schools (Porter, Linn, & Trimble, 2005). One significant requirement of NCLB is that each state must adopt challenging academic content standards and challenging student achievement standards. Additionally, states must establish Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals for each year from 2002 to 2014—that would culminate in the 2014 goal that all American students would be at or above the proficient student academic achievement standard (P.L. 107–110, 2001). When local educational agencies (LEA) failed to meet their state’s AYP goals, in addition to other criteria, they [LEA] faced the inevitability of losing their accredited status and eventually face school
The education system is deeply flawed. It does not fight social injustice, but rather exacerbates the issue. The majority of people in the U.S are blind to the fact that there are still inequities within the education system, much less everyday life. A system based on standardized test scores inadvertently oppresses poor people. The Governments ' decision to judge a schools ' success by its test scores evidently created a faucet of running water for systematic oppression. The flowing water of oppression floods poor schools; drowning students with dreams, and giving no mercy. The only ones safe from the water are the privileged, who are oblivious to the fact that it exists.
In what follows I first provide a history and explanation of the NCLB act. As well as the thinking behind this piece of legislation. Then, I show how the NCLB’s rules and standardized testing are destructive to teaching. Finally, I argue how the act is leading to the overall downfall of our educational system.
NCLB is a federal law that mandates a number of programs aimed at improving U.S. education in elementary, middle and high schools by increasing accountability standards. In 2002 there was a revision that, states must test more often to close the gap between minority students and those with disabilities.
When President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) into law in 2002, the legislation had one goal-- to improve educational equity for all students in the United States by implementing standards for student achievement and school district and teacher performance. Before the No Child Left Behind Act, the program of study for most schools was developed and implemented by individual states and local communities’ school boards. Proponents of the NCLB believed that lax oversight and lack of measurable standards by state and local communities was leading to the failure of the education system and required federal government intervention to correct. At the time, the Act seemed to be what the American educational system
The support for the No Child Left Behind Act plummeted down shortly after the act passed. Many people supported the act at first simply because they supported the goals of the act, once they saw the results, their opinions changed. One of the biggest arguments towards No Child Left Behind is that it is unfair. People believed the resources of difference schools were unequal, and thought the Title 1 funding that the schools received should go to ensuring all schools had equal resources. Many people started to realize the faults in using the results of tests to determine if a child was educated well enough, too. They believe students should be taught other things that will be useful in their adult lives instead of just basic grade school education (Stanik). No Child Left Behind had many nicknames that really expressed how people felt about the act. It has been called “No Teacher Left Standing” “No Lawyer Left Unemployed” and “No Child’s Behind Left” all regarding the unreachable expectations of the act (Fennell, 63).
Areas of academic achievement for students with disabilities were a concern addressed in the No Child Left Behind legislation. This concern was very important in the special education community. No Child Left Behind took into consideration, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This act focused on the delivery of education services to students with disabilities, it focused more on educating children with disabilities. While No Child Left Behind took this act into consideration, it also considered the outcome of education received
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 was a U.S. Act of Congress, which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and effectively scaled up the federal role in holding schools accountable for student outcomes. According to Alyson Klein from an article called “No Child Left Behind: An Overview,” she explained that the NCLB’s purpose and goal was to advance American competitiveness and close the achievement gap between poor and minority students and their more advantaged peers. Overtime, the NCLB had a tremendous impact on teaching, learning, and school improvement, and with that, it also became increasingly controversial with educators and the general public (Klein, “No Child…”). The NCLB with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act had a
While the enactment of the NCLB of 2001 attempts to “ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education." The consequences of the statute may instead deny access to adequate education for a large portion of the population. Its implementation, primarily through its system of rewards and punishments, may actually inhibit educational opportunities for the very population it was designed to serve the “low income students.” If its provisions are enforced, the statute could practically force low-income students to remain in poor-performing public schools while failing to address their real educational needs, thus decreasing the chances of them ever attaining academic proficiency.
For this reason, the NCLB act provides a safe harbor provision. This provision states that as long as schools are showing progress, they will not be considered failing. Failing would be if there was no academic progress by any group of students in which
Developed in 2001 but signed by President Bush in 2002, the NCLB was designed to include all children the right to the same education, including those with disabilities (Educational Technology, 2012). It was designed to provide parents more options and better teaching methods for their children with disabilities (Educational Technology, 2012). It described how and what students would be learning and assessments given to prove their success. The NCLB was designed with academic standards categorized by each individual state. By the 2005 school year, all states were to prove their assessments for language arts and math in grades 3-8 every year, then once during their high school years. By the 2007 school year, science assessments became mandatory. Although the NCLB were designed to include children with disabilities, they were still expected to partake in the assessments, even if it meant providing accommodations for them. Some accommodations could include students with disabilities receiving extra time on test, having a small group management, having test questions read aloud to them or allowing them to take extra breaks during the test (No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB): An Overview, 2014).