Initiated in 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 intended to prevent the academic failures of educational institutions and individual students, as well as bridge achievement gaps between students. This act supports the basic standards of education reform across America; desiring to improve the learning outcomes of America’s youth. No Child Left Behind has left many to criticize the outcomes of the Act itself. Questions have risen concerning the effectiveness of NCLB, as well as the implications to America’s youth. Thesis The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 should be revised to allow better accountability of student success, accountability of schools progress, and better flexibility for teachers. About “No Child Left Behind” Signed into law in 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 had ample bipartisan support. Implementing the belief that setting high achievement goals in education would yield an increase in student success nationwide, the act requires all states to build assessments for all grade levels concerning the basic skills of reading and math. This in turn provides assurances of federal funding for the public schools who participate fully in this practice. The goal of the act is to have every child achieve their grade level in math and reading by 2014. It was based off the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. ESEA established the Title I programs, which became the first federal education aid to support children of poor urban/rural areas (Ed.Gov). Accountability of Student Success “Accountability for improved student achievement lies at the heart of the ESEA debate (Jennings, 2010).” According to Jennings,we must relook how student progress in English language arts and math sho... ... middle of paper ... ...positions. Teachers should be rewarded by success, not penalized by single sided test results. 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.
The implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act applied a market approach to school reform as a way of improving the school system. This new law promised an era of high standards, testing, and accountability in
Anatole France said, “An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don’t.” Through the No Child Left Behind program students are being tested in a manner that does not accurately measure learning. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB or The Act) Act was proposed in 2001, an addition to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, to assist students who have a disadvantage or are a minority. Through this Act students were required to take standardized tests. One main reason of implementing the standardized testing as a part of NCLB was to raise schools AYP, adequate yearly progress; this measures a schools progress in reaching certain standards set by the Federal Government. The Federal Government should eradicate the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 because it is creating substantial problems, limiting learning, and has proven to be ineffective.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) deals with student achievement standards by holding schools accountable for the achievement of their students (Implementation 11). The NCLBA uses standardized tests to chart the success of students. If students are not meeting standards, the school is required to offer tutoring, which is funded by the state with Title I, the education mandate passed in which granted all public schools access to federal grants, money (No Subject 7). The Act itself is not the problem; the problem is that the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standard which is a big part of the NCLBA is not being met. The AYP standard is not being met because schools are not changing their methods quickly enough. It was said in the NCLBA that schools nationwide were to have 100% proficiency of the AYP standard within 12 years (Implementation 9). Since the passing of the NCLBA in 2001, most public schools, nationwide have not improved at all.
At a time of wide public concern about the state of education, the legislation sets in place requirements that reach into virtually every public school in America. The law emphasizes accountability, teacher quality, parent choice, improved teaching methods, and flexibility. (Correa) Strict requirements and deadlines have been set for states to expand the scope and frequency of student testing, revamp their accountability system and guarantee that every classroom is staffed by a ?highly qualified? teacher in his or her own subject area. (I ed) The plan also mandates annual student testing in reading and math by 2005, and requires all school districts to allow students in consistently low-performing schools to transfer to higher performing schools, at the districts expense. (Hull) From year to year, states are required to improve the quality of their schools. No Child Left Behind has expanded the federal ...
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001’s main purpose was to enhance the education system and hold schools accountable in its attempt to bring equality in the fight against poverty for poor and minority groups. Once this Act was signed into law the American public expected an overhaul of the education system with only good outcomes. The public assumed our children would be receiving the best education available and the economic issues that plagued schools would no longer be a problem. In the beginning of its implementation No Child Left Behind was expected to bring America up to standards with other nations, this was something that America has struggled to do for many years. Our children were now being put first according to Act and the public and many political figures were ecstatic over the possibilities.
The Elementary and Secondary School Act has been amended on seven different occasions, but the most current is No Child Left B (NCLB). This act is a direct result of the 1994 amendment to the ESEA Improving America’s Schools Act (IASA), which is a result of the Clinton Administration and Goals 2000. Goals 2000, an act signed into law on March 31, 1994, set in place eight goals concerning school readiness, school completion, student academic achievement, leadership in math and science, adult literacy, safe and drug-free schools, encouraging teacher professional development, and parental participation (Paris, 1994). After Clinton signed Goals 2000, the IASA was implemented and signed on October 20, 1994, the new amendment to the ESEA that allotted $11 billion for most federally funded K-12 programs and enacts what is considered to be the most important changes made since the original act was passed in 1965 (Education Week, 1994). NCLB is the 2001 U.S. Act in accordance with which educational standards in primary and secondary education should be improved for students with disabilities to achieve successful individua...
No child left behind does nothing but dishearten the students who are proving to be ahead of the average student from wanting to improve. While the struggling students are simply carried from one grade to the next. The No Child Left Behind Act is great in theory but is too heavily reliant on standardized tests and percentages and not enough about what the students actually learn. Being a survivor of NCLB I have had firsthand experience with this topic and from an above average students point of view it really deterred me from wanting to push myself further and eventually lead to me falling into the average category as my high school career came to an end. Teachers and students treat education with the idea of “just passing” rather than graduation with honors. The government is leaving more kids behind today than ever before, with their constant demand for improvement of tests scores and increased graduation rates leads to unrealistic goals forcing teachers to teach the test and abandoned their own curriculum. State governments selling what will be taught as this year’s curriculum to the highest bidder letting business dictate what students learn.
Since the No Child Left Behind Act 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 to be addressed and instead been overlooked. Because in “Is No Child Left Behind Effective For All Students?” Parents Don’t Think So, a school who fails to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for four or more years is considered under corrective action and the state board must make serious changes to the school. Randolph and Wilson-Younger, (Oct. 22, 2012). Our government has offered states the chance to waive requirements but the states have to make specific reforms in exchange for flexibility. During the first round of waivers offered, 11 states applied. The states had to fill out applications. Each state must put in an application for a waiver and if a state receives a wavier it will last for two years and then they can reapply. These waivers are needed because the No Child Left Behind is broken. The laws can identify which schools that are in need of improvement based on their achievement targets. The law prescribes interventions but the interventions are not working as well as they could be. Lawmakers have proposed to move a bill to the Senate or House floor. However, the Republicans had p...
“Now we have a chance to fix the law by refocusing on the proper federal role: equal opportunity. To do that we must change the way we think about accountability… has hinged entirely upon standardized test scores,” (Garciá & Otho, 2015, p.3-4). This excerpt from the Washington Post article ‘No Child Left Behind’ has failed offers up the exact problems that education today faces due to this act and others like it. By not communicating with educators, lawmakers set a high demand that is impossible to reach, due to a number of factors, namely the motivation of the child. To base the measure of a child’s success solely upon such a wanton score is futile and completely misses the most important part of learning. Rather than encouraging a child’s interest and bringing it into pre-existing curriculum the teacher is forced to run practice after practice in preparation for standardized test, in the hope that the state does not cut funding for the school. Bring into the mix a federal government whose demands are ever escalating to save face on the world stage, and its surprising that
The No Child Left Behind Act should tremendously be re-examined and amended because the focus on the standardized tests decrease the quality of other subjects not on the tests, the tests are not an efficient tool to make certain that a student is receiving an excellent education and the tests create unnecessary stress for the students, teachers and administrators. The purpose of No Child Left Behind is to provide every student with the opportunity to receive a top-grade education. This is a great proposal to strive towards but, legislation plans on achieving this proposal by making schools responsible for their students’ proficiency and to measure their proficiency with the use of standardized tests. After the students take the standardized tests, the school district must report their scores and if the scores do not meet the adequate yearly progress (AYP), they are punished, usually by a deduction in federal funding. Therefore, an excellent education is very critical for a child’s success but standardized testing is not the best way to ensure that the students’ receive a good education because they take away the focus on other subjects, causes extra stress for the students and other people involved, and is not the most efficient way to ensure the students are receiving a high quality education.
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
Everyday school systems lose children’s attention and enthusiasm. When compared to National data, the No Child Left Behind law can be successful, but in the long run, it fails from the lack of creativity. In The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Students, Teachers, and Schools, the article states, “using data from a low stakes exam fielded in seven states over a 4-year period, identify the achievement consequences of NCLB” (Ballou & Springer, 160). Some of these consequences is only taking scores from certain grades and putting them towards the schools credibility. For instance the NCLB could take fourth grade reading scores, but not take fifth grade scores. This would not only leave a gap in the schools data, but could also potentially harm the schools reliability. Overall the NCLB is not accurate, nor is it credible. With all the gaps in data and the scores being lower than other international scores, the No Child Left Behind law needs to be
The No Child Left Behind Act was set into place with the goal to improve student performance in school, and close the achievement gap between students; as Stecher, Vernez, and Steinburg state, “When congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), it established an ambitious goal for the nation’s states, districts, and schools: All children will be proficient in reading and mathematics by the 2013-2014 school year” (1). While the No Child Left Behind Act was implemented with good intentions, the act itself is one of the main reasons the United States is falling behind in educational rankings. One of the most common complaints of parents surrounding the No Child Left Behind Act is the weakest link factor: the weakest student sets the pace in the classroom. The weakest student...
As Rodney Paige, former Secretary of Education, said, “We have an educational emergency in the United States of America” (Hursh, 2007). The American ideal of egalitarianism essentially states that individuals should have an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams, and an important part of being able to achieve this is attaining a quality education. Students of differing racial, cultural, socioeconomic, and ability levels should all have the same opportunities in receiving a high-quality education. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is seeking to change this. The NCLB is the current authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (Houston, 2007), which was passed during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. Every five years the ESEA is renewed. It is currently due for renewal in 2014.
President Bush quoted, “Clearly, our children are our future…Too many of our neediest children are being left behind” (www.ed.gov). The “No Child Left Behind” Act expands the federal government’s role in elementary and secondary education. The NCLB emphasizes accountability and abiding by policies set by the federal government. This law sets strict requirements and deadlines for states to expand the scope and frequency of student testing, restore their accountability system and guarantee that every classroom is staffed by a teacher qualified to teach in his or her subject area. Furthermore, the NCLB requires states to improve the quality of their schools from year to year. The NCLB pushes state governments and educational systems to help low-achieving and low-efficiency learners in high-poverty schools meet the same academic standards that apply to all other students.