No Child Left Behind

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No Child Left Behind

As students in a Structure & Philosophy class, one of the main components has been to introduce and familiarize us with the No Child Left Behind Act. President Bush passed this legislation on January 8, 2002. The NCLB Act was designed to ensure each and every student the right to a fair education, to give parents more options in their child’s education, and to guarantee all teachers are highly qualified. By highly qualified, the act means teachers must have at least a bachelor’s degree, have full state certification or licensure, and have demonstrated competence in their subject areas (US Dept. of Education).

“Making the Grade,” which was published in the Salt Lake Tribune in September of this year, is an article arguing the negative sides of the No Child Left Behind Act. Through this article, a majority of the discussion regarded the budgeting involved with NCLB. This article calls No Child Left Behind a “one-size-fits-all formula for improving education in America” (Making the Grade). According to President Bush, the NCLB Act is “’the cornerstone’ of his administration” (Salt Lake Tribune). Like with any legislation, however, come both positive and negative sides.

As argued in “Making the Grade,” the No Child Left Behind Act seeks to reduce gaps in testing areas that have allowed kids to advance without having high-quality skills in subjects such as math and reading. By discovering what kids are slipping through the gaps in testing, it will be easier for schools to aid these students and make sure they are not left behind. Other main goals of this act include to find teachers who are not well educated in the subjects they are currently teaching, and to locate those schools who fail t...

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... Act highly overweigh the few negative sides of the act, such as the supposed lack of funding as pointed out in “Making the Grade.” With time and patience, I feel everyone will see the benefits of this act and will be supportive of a brighter future of education in the US.

Works Cited:

“Making the Grade.” Salt Lake Tribune. 14 Sept. 2003. 30 Oct. 2003.

http://web.lexisnexis.com/universe/document?_m=e639f774e6d2737990eb1dcaeec86e34&_docnum=92&wchp=dGLbVlbzSkVA&_md5=66c0907fb6980f1de15959b46cf292a4

US Department of Education. Choices for Parents. 8 November 2003. http://www.ed.gov/nclb/choice/index.html?src=ov

US Department of Education. No Child Left Behind. 8 November 2003.

http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml

US Department of Education. No Child Left Behind. 8 November 2003.

http://www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/ayp/testing.html

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