No Child Left Behind Essay
pdf
keyboard_arrow_up
School
James Sprunt Community College *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
101
Subject
English
Date
Nov 24, 2024
Type
Pages
13
Uploaded by UltraTeam12976
No Child Left Behind Thesis Essay
No Child Left Behind 1 Running head: NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND The Impact of the No Child
Left Behind Act on the K–8 Setting Kara Robertson A Senior Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for graduation in the Honors Program Liberty University Fall 2009 No Child
Left Behind 2 Acceptance of Senior Honors Thesis This Senior Honors Thesis is accepted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the Honors Program of Liberty University.
______________________________ Shanté Moore–Austin, Ph.D. Thesis Chair
______________________________ Janice DeLong, M.Ed. Committee Member
______________________________ Connie McDonald, Ph.D. Committee Member
...show more
content...
In her article "Time to Kill 'No Child Left Behind'," Diane Ravitch (2009) explains the
consequences if the NCLB requirements are not met: Schools that do not make progress toward the
goal of 100% proficiency for every group are subject to increasingly, stringent sanctions. In their
second year of failing to make "adequate yearly progress" for any group, failing schools have their
students given the choice of leaving to enroll in a better public school. In the third year of a school's
failure, students are entitled to free tutoring after school. In the subsequent years, the failing school
may be converted to private management, turned into a charter school, have its entire staff
dismissed, or be handed over to the state. (p. 5) The federal government is not taking NCLB lightly.
It is serious about each of these consequences and is ready to bring them upon any school that does
not make adequate yearly progress. With the increased efforts being made to meet AYP, educators
are feeling the pressure and they are becoming very stressed about their jobs. An article by Alvin
Granowsky (2008), explains that "schools that have low scores and/or do not show needed
improvements in test results, receive negative labels, such as unacceptable, and their teachers and
administrators threatened with loss of jobs" (p. 1). Unfortunately, this No Child Left Behind 6
causes teachers to be afraid that if their schools
Get more content on StudyHub.Vip
No Child Left Behind Research Essay
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
...show more content...
In other words, Funds are being withdrawn from non–tested subject areas and applied to the tested
subjects' areas, which are math, reading and science, for preparation resources for the exams. Rather,
those funds should really be used to hire highly qualified teachers and to purchase and maintain
functional equipment for the non–tested subject areas, like the arts. The withdrawal of time spent in
a non–tested subject classroom, focusing on that course's actual content area is another example of
the detrimental effect No Child Left Behind has on non–tested content areas. Tina Beveridge, a
music professor at Lower Columbia College, quotes Gerber and Gerrity in her article, "No Child
Left Behind and Fine Arts Classes", and states that principles prefer to hire teachers for arts
positions, who are trained in the arts and either reading or math (5). Therefore, school leaders want
to hire teachers that are dually trained in arts and math or reading, so that those teachers can teach
the tested subject matter within the non–tested subjects classroom's and takes away the time spent
on learning those neglected subjects. The No Child Left Behind Act
, while having good intentions,
is
Get more content on StudyHub.Vip
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
No Child Left Behind Essay
No Child Left Behind; Why we should rethink the current policy. Education was the focus of
George W. Bush's Presidential campaign in 2000. Using the improved Texas educational system as
an example, President Bush promised to change education in America for the better. The No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001 was the result of his promise. Bringing reform to American Education, the
NCLB is the topic of much controversy. While the ideas supporting NCLB are sound, the
methodology is lacking. The overreaching and poorly funded law failed to account for many of the
variables that parents, teachers and schools face on a daily basis. While the law holds the
...show
more content...
Schools lack the funding to achieve the goals set by NCLB and overcrowding prevents the personal
education that students need to rise to the top. To thrive academically, students need a curriculum
tailored to their learning style, pace, and level. NCLB has set standards where the focus is on closing
the achievement gap, the differences exhibited in student achievement according to race and
economic condition (Lagana–Riordan & Aguilar, 2009). This focus leaves students who learn at an
accelerated rate at a disadvantage. Under NCLB the focus is so set on low achieving students that
high achieving students do not get the educational challenges they need to thrive. An article in
Voices from the Middle suggests that gifted children are getting left behind in the new system –
"NCLB Act focuses mainly on disadvantaged children." Because the law requires that all children be
proficient in math and reading by the 2013–2014 school year, the attention is given to students who
are not competent in reading and math. This is especially difficult at the adolescent level where
students require reinforcement to continue reading when there are so many other distractions. High
quality teachers are also a part of
Get more content on StudyHub.Vip
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
No Child Left Behind Essays
LITERATURE REVIEW
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
...show more content...
It may not be the teacher's performance that is affecting the students test scores. The students may
not develop on the same level that the standardized test are wanting them develop at. Tests scores
are unreliable, but they still are more often right than wrong, but not sufficiently more often to
justify making high–stakes decisions on the basis of test scores alone.
No Child Left Behind: What We Know and What We Need to Know talks about how the No Child
Left Behind holds the educational agencies and states accountable for the education of the students
and their performances inside the classroom. The NCLB wants to accomplish this goal by using
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) this measures how the students are doing inside the classroom.
There are some problems with the AYP it allows the states to pick their own standards of test scores
and proficiency levels. When the states make up their own rules on how to measure the AYP the
studies are finding out that the AYP is having an enormous impact in the schools that meet the AYP.
Discusses the problems we have with how we measure and calculate the effectiveness of how the
schools are doing with the NCLB. The article talks about how the NCLB is to improve schools for
the underperforming students. The connection is the article tells the readers how they measure the
progress of the AYP. So pertaining to my question of should the standardized tests be the only way
of testing students?
Get more content on StudyHub.Vip
No Child Left Behind
In the case of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), is politics the enemy of problem solving? By
examining selected political controversies surrounding NCLB, it will be demonstrated that politics
is the enemy. Since NCLB's enactment, vast amounts of research literature and news stories have
been published on its effects, which demonstrates the impact and debate generated by this law. The
major goals of this bipartisan legislation were to improve student performance through standardized
testing by using data from annual test scores to measure each students' and schools' progress; to
close the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their better–off counterparts; and to
hold teachers and schools accountable. All these actions were to
...show more content...
The aim is to "fix" low–performing schools. Schools and teachers would be held accountable, for
low performance and the law was considered by many to be overly punitive rather than supportive
(Jost, Ravitch). AYP leads to the next criticism of an NCLB outcome: "narrowing of the
curriculum." Because so much depends on how schools fare on these "high stakes tests," in many
schools, especially low–performing schools, fewer subjects are being taught, so more emphasis can
be put on teaching reading and math and less time is being spent on developing children's problem
solving and critical thinking skills (Ravitch, Stecher, et.al.). Furthermore, to make room for honing
test–taking skills, less time is being spent on teaching subjects in general. This practice is often
referred to "teaching to the test." The fact that too much time is spent working on practice tests is
more than likely an unintended consequence of the law. Not only have schools modified their
curriculum, but also states have adjusted their educational standards so that they are able to achieve
NCLB's requirement of AYP of 100 percent proficiency. Students "fell victim to what many
observers called the school districts' decisions to "dumb down" the standards for measuring
proficiency. It's a lot easier to push down your
Get more content on StudyHub.Vip
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
Essay on No Child Left Behind Program
Most educators and parents would desire an educational system where all students receive a
balanced education that will afford all students the ability to compete in our ever changing society.
This desire is great among students who live in economically challenged environments and those
who attend poor schools. These students are at most risk of receiving a a proper education
. This is
partly due to lack of funding, and the inability for those poor schools to afford highly qualified
teachers. Much controversy stems from this issue, poor schools not being able to afford highly
trained teachers, students not having access to improved curriculums and extraordinary dropout
rates. In an effort to combat these issues, the Bush administration
...show more content...
In nine states at least half the public schools did not make AYP in 2008–2009 (Dietz 2010). In a
majority 34 states, at least 25% of the schools failed to make AYP. (Dietz 2010). Even with failing
statistics, the act provides no alternative for already failing schools to receive funding and to adds to
an already existing problem.
Unbelievably, the law also allows for sanctions to be placed on those schools that fail to meet the
AYP. The government has the ability to restrict funding for already struggling schools further put
poor schools in jeopardy. Resulting in the privatization of failing schools, or the likelihood of those
schools being turned over to the state, or even closure, causing students to be displaced and in some
instances students drop out of school completely.
This discretionary method of determining whether a school should receive funding puts pressure on
schools to meet the AYP. In some cases, schools narrowed their curriculum in order to focus on
meeting mandates, which compromised the level of education the students received. This led to
students being "taught to test", rather taught to think (Randolph & Wilson–Younger 2012). By
mainly focusing on reading and math "dumbed–down" our students.
The unfair mandate to reach quotas to receive funding for improved curriculums changed the
educational paradigm from educating to reaching specific numbers. The law allowed the
government to put unrealistic mandates for
Get more content on StudyHub.Vip
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
No Child Left Behind Essay
On January 8 2002 President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind(NCLB). It's basic
reading and math, annual test of those skills, it ignored history, civics, literature, science, arts, and
geography. It was basically no curriculum, measurements and data does not fix the schools.
Constant test preparation sometimes generated high test scores but it had nothing to do with
education
. According to The Death and Life Of The Great American School System, the author
Diane Ravitch states, "test should not follow the curriculum. They should not replace it or precede
it. Students need a coherent foundation of knowledge and skills that grows stronger each year... a
well educated person in the twenty– first century should have the opportunity to
...show more
content...
Accelerated programs and classes remain less accessible for black and Latino students – and their
inability to tap these resources can lead to the further stratification of classes by race"(Yin). The fact
is kids black school funding and because they lack school funding they are faced with numerous
amounts of problems. Interviewing Pastor Kevin Allen he explains, the inequalities that exist today
are the underfunded schools, not enough of teachers, not enough school books or library books, and
there's no technology. He states " it limits the furtherance of kids education and it makes them feel
they don't need to finish school". Greed is the reason the state does little to help or intervene.
Teachers need to motivate kids in class daily and parents need to make sure their kids are doing
what they need to do in order to succeed in life. For kids to learn they have to: be in healthy
environments, teachers have to be willing to teach, effective discipline, effective curriculum, and
diversity(no segregation). The is the people who are running education they are politicians, the
media, and white communities. Money is the biggest concerns as well as resources. The way schools
are funded allows inequalities to continue, local property taxes fund schools meaning the more
money a school receives is based on the value of house properties. In richer areas can be afforded by
whites who pay more property taxes and get better schools rich
Get more content on StudyHub.Vip