During the 2011-2012 school year, U.S. public high schools hit an all-time high by having an average four-year graduation rate of 80 percent ("State High School Graduation Rates by Race, Ethnicity"). These rates vary by state, and Nebraska ranks in at about 88 percent, which is above national average. According to the No Child Left Behind Act, issued by President George W. Bush and signed into law in 2002, by the year 2014 all students who had completed their eighth grade year should have been proficient in academic skills. For many years, schools were just shuffling kids through the system without giving them the proper education they need to succeed later in life. Unfortunately this act has not been effective and did not give children the actual education planned. Because of this, we need to reexamine this act and decide if this policy needs to be revoked or more harshly enforced to benefit the children.
After this act was signed into law, Mary E. Williams interviewed President George W. Bush to find out why this act was a necessity. President Bush’s goal was to create significant educational progress and to mandate this, the law requires states to submit their own accountability plans that result in annual measurable gains in student performance (Williams). This includes extra funding for schools with low-income, basic skills education, frequent testing and assessment of student progress, enhanced teacher training, and tutoring availability. However, some disagree that
Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act is a renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is an aid program for disadvantaged students. Although it does sound as if the Act is helping children all across the country, Alexandra Robbins thoroughly explains otherwise in her book, The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids. Within pages eighty five through eighty nine, Robbins thoroughly shows her negativity to the Act and why it’s hurting children rather than helping them. She uses hard facts, such as the emphasis on tests, altered curricula, and the corrupt college admission process to prove her point.
The No Child Left Behind Act, which passed Congress with overpowering bipartisan backing in 2001 and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Jan. 8, 2002, is the name for the latest redesign to the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965. The NCLB law which was implemented out of worry that the American educational system was no more globally focused, significantly expanded the government's role in holding schools accountable for the educational achievement of all children. Furthermore, it put an exceptional spotlight on guaranteeing that states and schools help specific groups of children to be academically successful, for instance, English-language learners, Students with Disabilities (SWD), and socioeconomically challenged students, whose academic
The No Child left Behind Act was intended to close the achievement gap in elementary and secondary schools by allowing each and every student the opportunity to have the best education possible. This law was signed by George W. Bush in 2001 who described it as a law that will, “Ensure that all children have a fair, equal and significant opportunity to obtain a high quality education”(Neill 2). The No Child Left Behind Act was only intended to help the students, but it is clear, not only to teachers, parents, and professionals, that it is time for a reauthorized law; One that each and every student can benefit from. The achievement gap in America’s school systems still exists. For the sake of America’s future, the school system must make a change now or the future of this country will suffer.
Bush in January of 2002 (Ginsburg 2013). The idea behind No Child Left Behind was the fact that in different regions of the country with different economic and racial backgrounds there was an achievement gap between children of these different groups and something must to be done to fix the problem. The act is voluntary on a state-by-state basis but to receive title I funding the state must be enrolled in No Child Left Behind. The goal of No Child Left Behind was to have every child that attended school in public schools in America would be 100 percent proficient in math and reading by 2014. The public schools that held there standards to the highest quality are rewarded with extra money and the schools whose standards were failing were given less, in a hope to hold schools accountable for the quality of education they were providing. To gauge the schools quality of education participating schools must participate in standardized testing that shows the schools are meeting academic proficiency. In 2012 President Obama announced that states would be able to receive a waiver on the 100 percent proficiency by 2014 part of the act. States that receive a waiver must set state-specific, federally approved goals for education.
"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
This article in the Times newspaper, points out problems and flaws with the 2002 U.S. No Child Left Behind educational legislation, which was designed to improve education in the U.S. Topics that are discussed include, teachers complaints that No Child Left Behind policy sets impossible standards and forces teachers to teach based on the test material, and how the bill originally came to life by the proposal of former U.S. president George W. Bush. The other topic
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
For many poor, minorities, and other disadvantaged groups, the country has not made significant progress toward quality education for at-risk youth consistent with specific provisions outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act, failing the hopes of students and their families. When the NCLB Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002, it was supposed to represent a new beginning in providing quality school education to young people who come from low-income families and who have special needs. Its purpose was to close the achievement gap between groups of students in elementary and high schools. However, many school districts across the country are still having difficulties in meeting the
Perhaps the most controversial law enacted by President George W. Bush is the No Child Left behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). This is a landmark educational reform designed to improve student achievement and drastically change the culture of American’s schools. In fact, President Bush describes the law as the “cornerstone of his administration.” Because children are our future, President Bush wanted to ensure our neediest children were not left behind. This paper will discuss pros, cons, and impact on students, teachers, and parents of NCLB. www.ed.gov
During President Bush’s term, government became aware that American schooling needed major improvement. There was a need of a law which would improve the system while using scores to evaluate students as well as their teachers. "The fundamental principle of this bill is that every child can learn, we expect every child to learn, and you must show us whether or not every child is learning," (Secretary, 2002) President George W. Bush said on Jan. 8, 2002, signing ceremony of No Child Left Behind Act. However, this one size fits all approach revealed not be resourceful. "The goals of No Child Left Behind, the predecessor of this law, were the right ones: High standards. Accountability. Closing the achievement gap, but in practice, it often fell short. It didn 't always consider the specific needs of each community. It led to too much testing during classroom time. It often forced schools and school districts into
The purpose of this paper is to address the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 10, 2015. The paper will also address the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002. The paper will talk about some of the key components of ESSA in comparison with NCLB and identify some possible strengths and weaknesses in ESSA’s new approach.
The No Child Left Behind act mandated, by federal law, that new measures be taken place to hold elementary and secondary schools in all states accountable for student education and growth and must meet a certain requirement in order to receive federal financial assistance. But one must ask themselves; should a child’s future
Nearly thirty percent of students in this year’s graduating class will not earn their high school diploma (Swanson). In the United States the rate of college graduation is only thirty eight percent, while in 2010, Canada’s college graduation rate was near sixty percent (Lee). In an effort to help with the problem of achievement in America, President Bush, in 2002, signed the No Child Left Behind Act. The Act called for 100 percent of students to be proficient in both reading and math in state given tests by the year 2014. Some criticized that the act permitted states to define what proficient is. Others criticized the punishments for not meeting the targets that were set, which included closure or privatization of schools,
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 No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002, which was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. President Bush once said; “education is the gateway to a hopeful future for America’s children. America relies on good teachers to pass on the knowledge and skills our young people need to achieve their dreams.” “Too many of our neediest children are being left behind.” "No longer is it acceptable to hide poor performance. No longer is it acceptable to keep results from parents," Bush said when he signed the legislation. "We're never going to give up on a school that's performing poorly; that when we find poor performance, a school will be given time and incentives and resources to correct their problems." (Bush)