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the failing school system in america
the failing school system in america
the failing school system in america
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The controversy with No Child Left (NCLB) Act of 2011 can be debated in different ways. Debate rages over whether the act is effective at improving America’s education system or has it flawed. The former advocate in favor of NCLB, Diane Ravitch has turned into a major critic against the law. Ravitch has even written a book pointing why the NCLB has failed. In The Death and Life of the American School System Ravitch criticized how the movement to reform education standards has turned into the movement of test taking. She has also advocated her concerns toward NCLB and how it has done more harm to America’s education system than improvement through television and radio interviews.
Throughout her book The Death and Life of the American School System and her interview on the Daily Show with John Stewart Ravitch took a strong stance on the failure of the NCLB. For this paper I am going to be analyzing the different rhetorical strategies used in each source to make Ravitch’s argument on NCLB more persuasive to the audience. The book and interview both used different yet similar techniques to make the argument strong; however the reasons and evidence in each case can help to build a sturdier foundation for the other source. I am going mainly focus the different aspects of the two sources that create trust and credibility and how through this reliability build up enhance the logical argument. These two methods work together to make the audience convinced of Ravitch’s claim.
The interview done on Diane Ravitch by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, focused on the book The Death and Life of the Great American School System. Stewart questioned Ravitch the reasons why she believe that “standardized testing and choice are undermining education”. I found this source through Google search engine using “No Child Left Behind” and Diane Ravitch” as my search terms. In addition, I did not have to search very far for the second source since I already had the book at home. Since my primary source was an interview done on Diane Ravitch and her book, I thought it was a good idea to incorporate it in support of her argument in the interview. Given Ravitch’s historical background as an Assistant Secretary of Education and an award-winning author of several books, it is safe to say that these sources are credible.
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
Neill, Monty. "The No Child Left Behind Act Is Not Improving Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 162-68. Print.
Another major criticism of the “No Child Left Behind” deals with the implications of using a standardized test as means of assessing achievement.
Bell, Andrea L., and Katie A. Meinelt. "A Past, Present, and Future Look at No Child Left Behind." Human Rights. 38.4 (2011): 11-14. MAS Complete. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
In 2001 George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act and the act took effect in 2002. The United States, and President Bush, thought that the act would aid immigrant students and American students in education from the time they entered elementary throughout adulthood. The NCLB does just the opposite for most immigrated students and native students. Although the act was a good idea at the time in 2001, the lasting effects on students with their education now are appalling because of all the negative feedback that the act provides for most school districts because all the students’ different learning abilities show lower test scores in standardized testing. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was passed in 2001 for aiding the development of education from 2001-2014 by creating standardized testing in hopes of creating more intelligent children, but there are more children left behind now, supporting the opinion that the act fails.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is an education policy originally proposed by President George Bush in 2001. Since then President Barrack Obama has added modifications in order to better educate the students of our Nation. The purpose of the NCLB is to enable all children to the same rights for education. Each child, regardless of race, gender or location should be able to obtain equal education. The policy requires highly educated teachers and annual state testing that is submitted to the government.
In order to determine whether or not the No Child Left Behind Act is doing its job successfully and efficiently, one must first understand exactly what is involved in the act. This act is the most recent renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Similar to laws in the past, this particular act has been revised and added to numerous times to make sure it encompasses everything necessary for the education system and the students. The No Child Left B...
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is currently the educational policy in the United States. Prior to NCLB the educational policies in effect were “A Nation at Risk, in 1987 America 2000, and a few years later with Goals 2000” (Eisner, 2001, p.21). No Child Left Behind is a test based accountability system used in schools to measure their performance holding the districts, administrators and teachers liable and accountable for the outcomes. Supovitz (2009) States that No Child Left Behind was a major reform initiative intended to bring about widespread improvements in student performance and reduce inequities between ethnic groups and other traditionally under-served populations like economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial
Reconstitution, in most cases, is fueled by a school’s inability to follow the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act. The bottom 1% are considered low-performing schools, and must undergo the reconstitution process. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find any positive feedback and information concerning reconstitution. Past assistant secretary of education Diane Ravitch, once an advocate of the No Child Left Behind Act, is now against the policy as a whole. She believes that this policy puts education on the wrong track and that it will not improve public education due to its emphasis on test scores, which leads to cheating and dishonesty. She says that the program has also turned schools into an “Educational Marketplace” because schools are competing with each other to receive better resources. Overall the No Child Left Behind Act, as well as reconstitution, seem to pit schools, faculties and students against each other, leaving plenty of children behind in their wake. Washington Post author Emma Brown wrote that, “ While test scores can be a cru...
This encyclopedia article described the public education system in America and the large portion of the education system now revolves around NCLB standards.
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.
Rushton talks about the funding for the No Child Left Behind is being held back if the students don’t do well on the standardized tests. So if the students don’t do well on the testing the teachers are being affected in the way of how much they are getting paid, also affects the school districts funding. This is encouraging the teachers not to teach the way they should, but they are teaching in the way of let’s just make the students do well on the standardized tests. In this article Rushton talks about how the brain of the student learns. Rushton talks about how the pre-frontal lobe is responsible for the thinking skills, creativity, and also making judgments. For the students that are taking the standardized test they may not have this area all the way developed, and that could be one of the major reasons that the teachers are not make the criteria of the test scores. If that is happening should the teachers really be counted responsible for what the student is not learning? Teachers need to create the environment where the students can grow at their own independent rate. “Effective teachers support brain development by encouraging children to make discoveries in well-planned environments that support student autonomy” (Rushton 89). The NCLB provides the funding for the school districts that make the grades on the standardized test but the schools that don’t make the grade has a disadvantage because then the NCLB doesn’t give the funding to the schools. “Research has shown that the teachers employed at low-preforming schools often are less qualified teachers while the students may have less extensive academic preparation” (Rushton 91). The connection in this resource is that it may not be the teacher’s fault...
Peterson, P. E., & West, M. R. (2003). No Child Left Behind?: The politics and practice of school accountability. New York, NY: Brookings Institution Press.
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
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.