Joseph M. Calahan, Director of Cooperate Communications of Xerox Corporation states, “Arts education aids students in skills needed in the workplace: flexibility, the ability to solve problems and communicate, the ability to learn new skills, to be creative and innovative, and to strive for excellence” (National Performing Arts Convention). On January 8th 2002, President George W. Bush signed The No Child Left Behind Act, or NCLB, into legislation, since then the nation's schools have overrun teachers and students with yearly-standardized test. School funding is determined by these yearly-standardized tests. Because of NCLB art programs in schools have taken blows in funding, teachers, and curriculum. Since the legislation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, flaws in NCLB such as, high-stake standardized testing and lack of funding are consequentially denying young artists to lose the opportunity to flourish in creativity, self-expression, and imagination, because of this NCLB is unsuitable to be upheld in our nation’s education system.
Since the signing of the No Child Left Behind, schools have relied on the standardized test to determine whether a student is academically on track, however this method of standardized testing is flawed and contains several defects. In a survey funded by National Art Education Foundation and conducted by F. Robert Sabol, Ph. D., 3,000 art educators from all states including the District of Columbia were surveyed to observe the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act on the nation's art education system (Sabol). In this survey it was found that, 67% of participants believe that NCLB has not aided students to become better learners (Sabol). These statistics reveal that the majority of our nat...
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Lynch, Grace Hwang. "The Importance of Art in Child Development." pbs.org. PBS, 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Nordlund, Carrie. "Waldorf Education: Breathing Creativity." Waldorf Education: Creativity 66.2 (2013): 13. eLibrary. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
Sabol, Robert, Ph D. "NCLB: A Study of Its Impact on Art Education Programs." arteducators.org. National Art Education Association. National Art Education Association, Feb. 2010. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.
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Even with the negative and positive functions of No Child Left Behind, there are many areas that still need to ironed out. Under the Obama administration several states have received a waiver from No Child Left Behind, “with this waiver students will still be tested annually. But starting this fall, schools in those states will no longer face the same prescriptive actions spelled out under No Child Left Behind” (Feller & Hefling, 2012). Since 2007, the law has been up for review, but due to opponents of the law there has not been an agreement reached and the law continues to stress our schools and children out. We can only hope that when this law is reviewed and agreed upon that it really is in the best interest of our children and the nation as a whole.
Holcomb, Sabrina. "Arts Education." Rss. National Education Association, 17 Jan. 2007. Web. 10 May 2016.
Education is the foundation of American society. It empowers the youth of America to become the successful leaders this country needs for the future. Education has been one of America’s top priorities since 1965, when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed. Now, education is controlled by the No Child Left Behind Act, which was launched in January 8, 2002. This act was passed with intentions from the government to provide Americans with a more superior education system. However, The No Child Left Behind Act carried many flaws which were left unseen to a vast majority of the public. This act limited American students by not allowing them to demonstrate their full academic potentials while proceeding in school. While the act was still fairly fresh, there was already evidence to prove that it had already gotten off to a bad beginning. For the crucial math and science courses, statistics showed minimal improvements which had begun around the time period in which the No Child Left Behind Act was passed. The act was also supported by a number of educators who voiced themselves by testifying against having the right to teach at their own free will. Teachers across America claimed that because of this new act, they felt a constant heaviness upon their shoulders from the state government to “Teach the test.”
Peter, S., 1996. The History of American Art Education. 7th ed. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group.
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.
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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.
“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.
In education today, art studies are not often viewed as a priority for students and they very frequently get cut from school’s curriculum due to a lack of proper funding. Howeve...
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U.S. Department of Education. (2006). No Child Left Behind executive summary report. Retrieved September 14, 2006 from http://www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html
Stipek, D. (2006). No child left behind comes to preschool. The Elementary School Journal, 106(5), 455-466.
Jane Alexander, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), once said, “Many children are missing out on something which gives their education context, gives their lives depth and meaning, and prepares them to be the future workforce.” This “something” that she spoke of is music and art education. Unfortunately, she is entirely correct. We are currently seeing in our country a dramatic cut in arts education curriculum in our public schools due to the limited amount of both time and funding. In many cases budget cutbacks mean arts education cutbacks. This limited amount of resources often forces administrators to place a value on the various subject areas. There is always a demand for greater concentration upon the traditional basics: English, math, science, and history. There is also a new focus on computer competency and a renewed focus on the need for foreign language education. Add to this health education, family life education, industrial arts education, AIDS education, home economics, physical education, and business education and one begins to wonder where arts education fits in.
The achievement gap is greatly evident and impacts the low-income, minority students the most. Although the federal government attempted to resolve this problem with No Child Left Behind, the social problem is still evident. As there is still much pressure on standardized tests and annual reports, reformation is needed. No Child Left Behind has proven to be inadequate and rather highlights the urgency for education reform. Although the act is called “No Child Left Behind,” an appropriate title would have been “Education Left Behind.” More than focusing on test scores, education should prepare students in how to contribute to
The Web. The Web. 22 May 2014. "Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best." Edutopia. The. N.p., n.d. Web.