“The world’s greatest problems do not result from people being unable to read and write. They result from people in the world-from different cultures, races, religions, and nations-being unable to get along and to work together to solve the world’s problems.” These statements by James A. Banks have made a profound impact on my view towards multicultural education and the nation’s current trend of standardization and high-stakes testing. Scholarly research shows that the emphasis placed on testing and standards, mandated by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, is causing teachers to focus entirely on basic skills in reading, writing, and math (Banks & Banks, 2010). This focus on basic skills is taking much needed time and attention away from multicultural education, and the teaching of social justice skills. These skills are critical to students becoming active citizens that can work together with all different groups to tackle the world’s issues. Thus, the problem and question for me becomes, how do we as educators maintain excellence and equity in our teaching through multicultural education, in the face of the standards and mandates set by NCLB and our state, so that no student-of any group-is left behind? All Students Left Behind NCLB was passed with a goal of closing the achievement gap between white students and their low-income and minority peers. However research over the past 10 years has found that the high-stakes testing policies have not improved reading and math achievement across states, and have not significantly narrowed national and state level achievement gaps (Au, 2009). In fact, the high stakes testing and standardization of classrooms has hurt the very students it set out to help. According to Haretos... ... middle of paper ... ...HE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT OF 2001: IS THE DEFINITION OF "ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS" ADEQUATE?. Kennedy School Review, 629-46. Kim, Y. (2010). The Procrustes' Bed and Standardization in Education. Journal Of Thought, 45(3/4), 9-20. Muskal, Michael. (2012). No Child Left Behind: Obama administration grants 10 waivers. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 30th, 2012 from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/ 2012/02/obama-administration-waiver-no-child-left-behind.html Planning to Change the World. RethinkingSchools.org. Retrieved March 30th, 2012 from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/ProdDetails.asp?ID=9780942961942 Sleeter, C. (2004). Critical multicultural curriculum and the standards movement. English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 3(2), 122-138. Volmer, J. (2002). The Blueberry Story: The teacher gives the businessman a lesson. Education Week, 21(25).
Neill, Monty. "The No Child Left Behind Act Is Not Improving Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 162-68. Print.
Though standardized testing has played a part in America's education system it took several tries before it played such a large role in education like it does today. The No child left Behind Act of 2002 was the foot hold standardized testing needed in order to be implemented into schools at a national level with such force. During the 1990’s the U.S felt as though it was falling behind on the Programme for International Assessment. “After No Child Left Behind (NCLB) passed in 2002, the US slipped from 18th in the world in math on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to 31st place in 2009, with a similar drop in science and no change in reading”(walker 1).
These questions, and many more, have long been a part of the agenda for multicultural education but are recently coming more clearly into focus. Most of the work and studies in race relations and teaching in a multicultural environment in the U.S. have put an emphasis on the unique cultural experiences and perspectives of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American groups. These are the groups that have historically been marginalized in various ways by the repeated asserted dominance by American people of European backgrounds. As the populations of the U.S. changes to take in even larger numbers of those groups...
While this report card focuses on how the NCLB act affects all subgroups in education, it is important to look at one group in particular; the special education students. President Bush?s NCLB act is forcing special education students to perform on statewide assessments that are above their intelligence level and are often requiring them to pass the assessments in order to receive a high school diploma. This often causes teachers, such as Lindley Corcoran, a special education teacher at Sheppard Pratt private school for students with severe disabilities, to teach to the test rather than teach practical functional skills which she believes will be ...
Linn, Robert L. "Accountability Systems: Implications of Requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001." Educational Researcher. Sage Publications, Aug. 2002. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. .
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is bringing down the American education system for the sake of academic competition with other countries that use better methods. This country hasn’t changed its methods in decades. By addressing different aspects of the problem, it can be solved more efficiently and quickly. Three different aspects will be addressed here: what the American education system already does, what other countries are doing (as well as cultural differences), and what we should be doing. What we should be doing is a general combination of what other successful countries are doing, taking advice from experienced educators, and abolishing stressful, unnecessary practices.
Ravitch, D. (2009). Time to Kill "No Child Left Behind". Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed For Quick Review, 75(1), 4-6.
Multicultural Education The inclusion of multiculturalism into schools has become an increasingly hot topic as of late. Being a future teacher, I have taken a natural interest in the topic as well. It seems that most of the push to incorporate the multicultural issue into the school system has been a reaction to the thought that the American “melting-pot” metaphor is on the decline. Knowing that the demographics of the United States are changing continuously, the main issue about the inclusion of multiculturalism is not whether to place it into the schools, but rather how to position this controversial topic into the curriculum.
First of all, the NCLB Act is creating substantial problems within specific schools and school districts, as well as throughout families of the schools, they are protesting the Act in many ways. “The increasing role of standardized testing in U.S. classrooms is triggering pockets of rebellion across the country from school officials, teachers and parents who say the system is stifling teaching and learning.” (Banchero 1) This is creating substantial problems because parents/guardians and even the staff are becoming outraged by the idea of standardized testing. They do not think it is acceptable to require teaching have stricter guidelines. They are modifying curriculum in an effort to make it more challenging. The reality is that they are making the assessment criteria narrower. Throug...
In conclusion, the initial intentions of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) were to close the achievement gap between low achieving students and schools and their counterparts; but have fallen short in many important aspects along the way. Teachers have become de-sensitized to the reasons they initially desired to be educators and have lost their vision of how to implement instruction due to standards of NCLB and the consequences for not meeting those mandated goals. Likewise, students must perform, many times, above their level in order to be labeled “adequate” by the federal government and their schools. In some cases, there is a disproportionate burden placed on schools, teachers, and students, all for the sake of what is federally deemed as average achievement.
Many people agree that standardized tests are a reasonable evaluation of a student’s capability. Standardized tests originated in the mid-1800s, in the American education system. W. James Popham defines standardized testing by “any test that’s administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner” (“Is the Use of…,” 2013). After the No Child Left behind Act (NCLB) came about in the early 2000s, the use of standardized testing became popular. NCLB required yearly testing for specific grades and subjects. If schools did not demonstrate adequate improvement, they were either closed or run by the state. This was done so the state and the tax payers of the schools knew that students were learning and knowing the material. Tax payers especially wanted to make sure their money was going to good use (“Is the Use of…,” 2013). High scores on standardized tests can result in funding for the school, along with bonuses to the facility and staff of the school.
Year after year students put themselves through large amounts of stress, attempts to prepare themselves mentally, and spend majority of their waking hours studying for standardized testing required through the No child left behind act (NCLB). An act put in place by the Bush Administration in hopes and efforts for student around the country to excel in education. However, the No Child Left behind Act is hindering a student’s ability to perform in the classroom rather than the student to excel as planned. Amongst other countries around the world, the United States performs significantly lower in education. Overall, the act had good intentions, but does it really raise achievement and close the achievement gap? Improving education has always been a top priority in the white house. Many laws have been passed but how many have succeed? NCLB is one of the biggest social engineering projects of our time, but shows very little progress in our children’s education. The No Child Left behind Act causes more of a negative outcome by being ineffective at achieving academic improvement, closing the education gap, limiting the teaching material for instructors, and causes a harmful repercussion on children and adolescents mentally and emotionally.
For years, there has been a debate among the educational and social realms: Is multicultural education harmful or helpful to us Americans and everything that make us "One America" as a whole? There is a saying that goes "A whole is greater than the sum of its parts". I am a firm believer that we, as Americans, should be united as one, not divided as many. When it comes to our education, no matter how many different types of education, they should be able be to relate or become as one. However, with all positive consequence, there is a negative consequence. In this essay, multicultural education will be reexamined and reviewed, through the views of two articles: Multicultural Education and the Curriculum Transformation by James A. Banks
The cultural diversity in society, which is reflected in schools, is forcing schools not to solely rely on content-centered curriculum, but to also incorporate student-centered lesson plans based on critique and inquiry. This requires multicultural education to a dominant part of the school system, not just an extra course or unit. Further, it demands that learning itself no longer be seen as obtaining knowledge but rather, education be seen as creating knowledge. Multicultural education should be seen as affirming the diversity of students and communities, promoting the multicultural ideas of the United States, and building the knowledge and behaviors needed for students to be a positive and contributing member of society and the global community as a whole.
It is estimated that by the turn of the century up to 40 percent of the children in the nation’s classrooms will be non-white, with the majority Latino. Already, multilingual schools exist in practically every major city. Since the teaching source is primarily White, and becoming even more so, it is important to take immediate action to prepare teachers and principles to work with a student population different than themselves (Dreyer, 1998).