The Elementary And Secondary Education Act During President Barack Obama Administration

State departments of education must be able to build capacity within their state by providing districts the essentials for developing a clear vision of what their schools’ futures entail, and the necessary components of professional development for leadership and teachers to create their own goals at the local level. Once this is accomplished, states need to hold the districts and local levels accountable, including themselves.

These gains have resulted in extra funding, enhanced teacher training and even tutoring. Bush was quoted as saying, “The era of low expectations and low standards is ending; a time of great hopes and proven results is arriving and together we are keeping a pledge: every child in America will learn, and no child will be left behind….” (Bush, par. 5). President Bush has placed great enhances on testing. It is believed that frequent testing in the classroom can be used as a guide to help individual schools build academically. Also, each school would receive a grade for its achievement level and be required to post it for the public to see. The bill insists on higher standards and higher achievement levels for all school. It joins the teachers, principles and education chiefs together in the fight for high education. It encourages great value and instills hope for our country.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), brain child of President Johnson, was passed in 1965. ESEA was intended to mitigate disparities in access to quality academic services and learning outcomes endured by underprivileged and minority students by federally funding schools serving their communities. ESEA, later revised as No Child Left Behind, was to be one element in a larger reform agenda focused on urban redevelopment, vocational training and “EDUCATION AND HEALTH” (Thomas & Brady, 2005). In his 1965 State of the Union, Johnson proclaimed, “No longer will we tolerate widespread involuntary idleness, unnecessary human hardship and misery, the impoverishment of whole areas… ” Nevertheless, this intractable problem remains, as illustrated by recent National Assessment of Educational Progress findings:

TRIO would later evolve into a total of eight programs, yet keep the title of “TRIO.” Upward Bound (often referred to as Classic or Regular Upward Bound) would be joined by Upward Bound Math-Science, a program with a format similar to Upward Bound, but stressing and providing assistance in Math and Science, while encouraging students to pursue careers in these fields of study. Veterans Upward Bound was initiated in the 1970s to provide military veterans with the skills and support necessary to pursue a postsecondary degree (U.S. Department of Education, 2016).

During his presidential campaign, President Obama critiqued the accountability system based on testing which created hope about the possibility to modify the NCLB legislation (Ovando & Combs, 2012). Conversely, President Obama reinforced NCLB by making teacher qualifications more rigorous and promoting the adoption of national academic standards (Dillon, 2009). In order to help the country to overcome the economic crisis, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 (Baker, 2011; Ovando & Combs, 2012). President Obama’s idea was that by improving education the American economy could be rebuilt (Baker, 2011). Obama’s administration also instituted, as

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 most interesting parts of Obama’s speech, to me, were the clarifications on his educational policies. His plans for higher education, such as halting student loan payments after 20 years or 10 years for public servants, seemed pretty cool to me. I’m not sure if taking government money to be used for student loans and giving it to parents while simultaneously stopping loan payments after 20 years is such a good idea. Pissing off the entire banking system might not be such a good idea in the long run. Grunts will be fired before CEOs cut their own bonuses, and I really don’t feel like that is particularly conducive to a good financial system.

“Shrinking state and local education budgets matched with the added pressure of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which sets rigid standards in reading and math that schools must achieve in order to receive federal funding, have created a new challenge for districts” (Van Harken).

"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

As part of the 2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Obama Administration secured $4.35 billion to encourage state-led education reforms known as the Blueprint for Reform. The Blueprint for Reform was a proposal to change the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which was first established in 1965 (Rochefort and Donnelly, 2011, p4). In 2002, President George W. Bush‘s made changes to the Act by introducing his education reform plan, No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Obama‘s Blueprint for Reform proposal involves changing NCLB as well as encourage the adoption of college and career-ready student education standards (Rochefort and Donnelly, 2011, p4). One of the educational programs of the Blueprint of Reform is the Race to the Top program.

Politics have made up a large part of public education in the United States of America since Anglo-Saxons came over from Europe. The effects that politics and governmental policies have had on public education have been evident throughout the history of the United States and are still apparent today. Beginning with assimilation and acculturation in the 17th century and continuing on to programs such as President George Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the Mississippi Healthy Students Act of 2007, it is clear that governmental policies have and will always affect public education in the United States.

In 2002, then-president George W. Bush realized that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 had been under much controversy since it played an insignificant role in reconstructing the performance of learners. In order to fill the loopholes in the ESEA, congress implemented the No Child Left Behind Act, which increased the federal role in the educational system in the country. In hopes of bridging the performance gap that had existed for students of low socioeconomic status, the act increased the responsibility of educators and schools.Within this essay, I shall be focusing on how the No Child Left Behind Act does the opposite of what it claims to achieve. The systematic use of testing as a powerful mechanism for decision making

The role of the federal government in setting education policy increased significantly with the passage by Congress of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a sweeping education reform law that revised the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. "Federal policy has played a major role in supporting standards-based reform since the passage of the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA) of 1994. That law required states to establish challenging content and performance standards, implement assessments…hold school systems accountable…" (Goertz, 2005, pg. 73)

Hammond recognizes this and after presenting her concerns, she postulates that to achieve a greater democracy we must continue to work to “equalize access to educational opportunity”(Hammond 2010) by focusing on “five key elements: Meaningful learning goals...Intelligent reciprocal accountability systems...equitable and adequate resources...Strong professional standards and supports...Schools organized for student and teacher learning.” (Hammond 2010). Although well intentioned past federal reforms have neglected to successfully address these important goals. Darling-Hammond does her best to help us understand what policymakers and administrators need to accomplish to create a system that will be successful for the children of our country. She outlines specific issues and attempts to create a plan for moving our system forward backed by research and previously successful systems. Her plan highlighted the need to train, and support more high qualified teachers, design curriculum to promote inquiry and authentic learning environments, and refocus how we hold teachers accountable. Our education system is extremely assessment focused, and although this does provide a mode of keeping teacher 's accountable for their student 's achievement, teachers have no way of keeping policymakers accountable to school district needs. She called for a shift to a professional growth mindset and underlined the need for the government to hold themselves accountable for ensuring that there is an

In light of the ESEA’s purpose, the Congressional Digest shares that the NCLB act helped to show how schools were creating a better learning environment for all types of students, but it also exploited the areas that were falling behind (1). Due to that acknowledgement, President Obama recognized the call from schools that something was malfunctioning within them. For 18 months, his staff worked diligently on a bill that would fully prepare all students for success in college and careers if approved. It passed. The National Center for Education Statistics claims that as of 2015, male and female dropout rates were under 10% (Status 1). The law was showing its first signs of success. Schools have been able to achieve this milestone by adjusting requirements in core subjects such as math, English, science, and reading in a way that accurately measures what needs to be known, and what areas students are struggling in (Coppes). The decision as to what would be measured and how it would be adjusted was left relatively open. The Executive Director at the Board of Education, Linn Exline, stated in an interview that Kansas had to submit a plan by September of this year for approval at the federal level. In order for that plan to move on, it had to go through drafting with public comments. Input gained from the comments were analyzed and revised in the draft (Exline). It can be assured that the needs of all types of