The policy “No Child Left Behind (NCLB)” is a policy where Federal legislation has mandated that children be tested, and where there is compliance with standards. Simply means, that all children must meet standards. The standards are defined by the states, and all children will be subject to testing, starting from as early as third grade. The students will be tested annually, in order to ensure that they are getting the type of education that they are entitled to, as determined by their performance on standardized tests.
Affects of the teachers
If the law expects educators to enable all students to pass, but some students fails it seems like the people helping those students were poor at their job.
The state controls the curriculum and the funding for schools, therefore, making it difficult for the teachers and school administration. There will be less and less local discretion over the content of what goes on in the classroom and over the curriculum. On-the-other-hand, more and more
…show more content…
Another major criticism of the “No Child Left Behind” deals with the implications of using a standardized test as means of assessing achievement.
Others believe that the states data is incomplete and inaccurate, and consequently schools were being graded on data that was faulty. It does not seem fair to me to judge a school and post inaccurate information of that school in the papers.
My perspective on the decision on the policy is that it lacks careful thinking by the law-makers. If students perform different, why use just one variable to test them. It’s like hoping that you are going to produce all children that are exactly the same quality. Or a school can be an excellent school but is seen as not making adequate annual progress under the provisions of “No Child Left
What the public didn’t hear as much about is how the No Child Left Behind Act has had outcomes that were not intended such as testing anxieties in students, schools having to lay off teachers because of lack of funds because they couldn’t meet qualifying standards, and schools not having funds to purchase textbooks and needed materials to educate the children. The testing that is required for the government to assess the schools and students are not standards for every state, each state has some control over what they test as long as they test the main subjects of Reading and Math. Another negative is the federal funding that was promised by the government was not as much as they promised. This caused the state and local governments to have to pick up expenses that they were not prepared for in order to bring school up to standard.
This is precisely the problem. Standardized tests are old and outdated, and the harm they cause to America’s education system by far outweighs the benefits. These tests were intended to monitor and offer ways to improve how public schools function, but instead they have impaired the natural learning ability of students and imposed upon the judgment of experienced educators. Although a means to evaluate the progress of public schools is necessary, it is also necessary to develop more modern and effective ways of doing so. Standardized testing mandated by the federal and state governments has a negative effect on the education of America’s youth.
The United States of America has placed low on the educational ladder throughout the years. The cause of such a low ranking is due to such heavy emphasis on standardized testing and not individual student achievement. Although the United States uses standardized testing as a crutch, it is not an effective measure of a student’s ability, a teacher’s competency, or a school’s proficiency.
Standardized tests have been used to see how much a child has learned over a certain period of time. These tests have been a highly debated issue with many parents and just people in general. In the article “Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong answer,” the author Michelle Rhee argues that people should not be trying to opt out of standardized tests because it allows the country to see how much a child has learned and the things they need to improve. On the other hand, in the article “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” the author Kristina Rizga argues that standardized tests are not an efficient way to measure a student’s intelligence.
In effort to maintain high education standards and being labeled a “Distinguished School”, the educators decided the best plan of action would be to change the student’s answers, due to the fact the students were not preforming to the level needed to pass to the next grade. The No Child Left behind Act of 2001 set measurable goals to improve education. Sadly in this case the standards set by government did not help the students it did a horrible disservice to the students. The educators did not teach or tutor the students when they fell behind. Changing the scores of students whom did not grasp the information and just passing them on sets them up for epic failure.
Florida is a state that regards education in ways that many claim to be confusing and inaccurate. State officials are seeking additional power on the local level to assist in modifying the problems that exist. Many agree on this issue, however, there are disagreements on how Florida should go about correcting the problems. Among the major dilemmas are standardized tests, the No Child Left Behind law, and the grading system. Florida needs to reconsider these aspects of education in order to clarify the progress of all schools.
Since the No Child Left Behind Act, also known as NCLB, has come into effect, it has caused some concerns with teachers and parents alike on how well it is working for the students. There have been issues that have arisen that needed to be addressed and instead been overlooked when a child does not meet with the school’s standardized testing and is pushed onto the next grade level.
In 2002, President George W. Bush passed the “No Child Left Behind Act” which tied in schools’ public funding to standardized tests and enforced the tests in elementary and high schools every year by state education departments. This law also began to put more emphasize on standardized tests which has diminished our level of education and the law “made standardized test scores the primary measure of school quality” (Diane Ravitch 28). Bush hoped this law motivated more students to do well on these exams and teachers to help them prepare better, but it ended up hurting many schools in the process. These exams like the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) should not play such a prominent role in schooling and the government should not make tests the main focal point.
Standardized testing scores proficiencies in most generally accepted curricular areas. The margin of error is too great to call this method effective. “High test scores are generally related to things other than the actual quality of education students are receiving” (Kohn 7). “Only recently have test scores been published in the news-paper and used as the primary criteria for judging children, teachers, and schools.”(2) Standardized testing is a great travesty imposed upon the American Public School system.
Ferriter, Bill. Standardized Tests Alone Should Not Be Used to Evaluate Students. Opposing Viewpoints School Reform. Ed. Noah Berlatsky. Detroit: Christine Nasso, 2011 94-99. Print.
It is not in America’s best interest to pass the proposal to require standardized testing at elementary school levels, or to force students to pass exit exams to earn their diplomas. If we wish for our children to be informed and educated, and ready to survive on their own in the real world, we need to give them the tools that will get them there. These tests are not accurate, and they are detrimental to the education of children. There should be no debate over how our representatives in Congress should vote on this bill.
...funding(“Should”). Others think that the funding should go to the schools with lower academically achieving students (“Should”). Funding could also vary by state because each state has it’s own issues (“Should”).
tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same, predetermined conditions and with consistent scoring and interpretation so that students have equal opportunities to give correct answers and receive an accurate assessment. The idea is that these similarities allow the highest degree of certainty in comparing result...
Considering our students, the education system has left myself as well as many other students battling with weaknesses due to the constant worry to compete rather than teach. The requirements and the motives of No Child Left Behind has made a negative impact on myself, due to teachers teaching the test in order to keep their funding. The Common Core and No Child Left Behind are both numbers driven. While teachers focus on keeping their funding, the government is focused on ranking and less about the minds of our future, our students.
“If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that.” This quote by Michelle Obama illustrates the idea that standardized testing should not have such a large influence on education in America. However, a majority of people are under the impression that standardized tests are an accurate method to measure a person's intellectual ability. I believe that standardized tests have developed into a very critical part of the American education system that is hindering the growth of students and teachers instead of providing a tool that can accurately measure knowledge.