Recently, controversial topics have taken over the educational field of study. Some of these topics include comprehensive sex education, bullying, use of technology in the classroom, and nutritious school lunches. All of these argued topics in education have their own merit of importance, but arguably one of the most disputed issues facing our country’s educational experience is the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The building blocks to the modern day No Child Left Behind Act can be traced back to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). The Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 was originally part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, and the act had the intentions to help fund poor schools that had low achieving …show more content…
students. Then on January 20th 2001, President George W. Busch took office and several days later introduced the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. In 2002, the legislation for President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act was finally passed which made the NCLB the seventh reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. President Bush believed that the No Child Left Behind Act was groundbreaking, and that with its passing that all the children in poverty or that were not doing well in school would all be brought up to par with the high achieving students.
The NCLB Act distributes funds from the government to public schools that participate in taking their state’s standardized test. The No Child Left Behind was made with good intentions, but that the negatives of the act outweigh the positives. Quoting President Barack Obama, “Experience has taught us that in its implementation, No Child Left Behind had some serious flaws that are hurting our children instead of helping them". Considering how long and how many problems the No Child Left Behind Act has caused, it is crazy how the act has managed to survive this long without an educational riot nationwide. Problems caused by the NCLB Act do not just affect the students within our country’s schooling system, but also administrators, teachers, and even the parents of the students. The No Child Left Behind Act negatively affects schools by turning classrooms into test prep centers, basing achievement of students on the standardized test scores, the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), adding extra pressure on teachers, and by publicly releasing schools information, and trying to reduce the achievement gap in
students. To begin with, the No Child Left Behind Act negatively affects schools by turning classrooms into “test prep centers”. When hearing the phrase, “test prep centers”, one might begin to picture a learning facility available to help children prepare themselves for an upcoming test, but this is not exactly the case. What the phrase “test prep center” means when discussing our country’s schools is focusing the majority of instruction time on information that will likely appear on a standardized test while limiting the instruction time on subjects that are irrelevant to the test. In modern day classrooms, the materials being taught revolve mostly around what will appear on the standardized tests the children will take. This means that subjects such as math, reading, and English are nailed into student’s minds, so that they may perform better on those sections of the standardized tests. With all the focus on “teaching to the test”, there arises a lack of time spent on other subjects that may interest students like the sciences, home EC, and history which could potentially help them later in life while searching for a future occupation. Not every student is going to be a mathematician or English major when they grow up, so why are they deprived of subjects that suit their skill sets. Referring to Monty Neil Test, “Under NCLB, education will be seriously damaged, especially in schools with large shares of low-income and minority children, as students are coached to pass tests rather than to learn a rich curriculum that prepares them for life in the 21stt century” (225). Not only does turning classrooms into test prep centers affect average students, but also the more technically inclined students. The No Child Left Behind Act has a major impact on vo-tech students who may not be as interested in the subjects taught to prepare for the test. The vo-tech student’s talents flourish in other areas like shop, art class, and computer classes, but with the NCLB there is less time for these electives to be taught in schools. According to Mark Johnson, “students that are interested in pursuing technical education may find it is more difficult to take the classes they need. That’s because many school districts are cutting back on electives or lab time so they can spend more of the school day preparing students for the tests they are required to take under the No Child Left Behind” (13). Technical students need to be able to take their vocational classes in order for there to be skilled laborers in the future. Basing student’s education solely on the subjects that reside on standardized tests may hinder their experience to further explore and figure out what other areas allow them to be successful. Elementary and High school is a time for adolescents to explore and start to figure out what they want to do with the rest of their lives, but the No Child Left Behind Act has slowly but surely limited the choices available to explore by turning classrooms into test prep centers.
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 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.
The policy “No Child Left Behind (NCLB)” is a policy where Federal legislation has mandated that children be tested, and where there is compliance with standards. Simply means, that all children must meet standards. The standards are defined by the states, and all children will be subject to testing, starting from as early as third grade. The students will be tested annually, in order to ensure that they are getting the type of education that they are entitled to, as determined by their performance on standardized tests.
The problem is that there are not enough high quality schools in all areas especially the ones that have low income families. The NCLB did get more kids in school, but it does not mean that they actually received a quality education or even graduated for that matter. Although, there are great teachers working at public schools; there are also too many bad ones. They are the kind of teachers who do not actually care if their students learn the material they are teaching, and are only really there for the paycheck. As for the NCLB act it was more of a never ending failing cycle. First off the act states that people are able to choose what school they want to go to when that clearly is not the case because each city has district lines. Then the act claims that all schools have to do is apply for grants and ask for money from the government or they can get money based off of the schools’ test scores. When these schools in bad neighborhoods have no money to implement programs to help students do better in school, and in turn they cannot get any money because they are not meeting the state’s standards. That is how this act becomes a failing cycle, and is only able to actually work for the nice public schools because they are the ones meeting the state’s standards which meaning they are more likely to receive any money or grants from the government. Yes, we are
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) created a national curriculum that would be taught in every school in America. The No Child Left Behind Act plays an enormous role in the education system. It touches on a broad variety of issues relating to public education, including the dispersal of federal funds and parental choice in the case of failing schools and for the learning disabled.
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.
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
The current debates surrounding the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 are both positive and negative. Many politicians and people that previously supported the Act are now standing against it. In the beginning many supported the new Act because everyone was aware that a change needed to happen in the education system and the proposal of No Child Left Behind seemed like the answer we were looking for. As the No Child Left Behind requirements began to be felt in the school systems across America and the assessments results started coming in, everyone took a step back and really began to look at the new law. The results were not what everyone expected, what was once considered an answer was now becoming the problem.
Common core is not a new method. America has set standards since at least the 1950’s and many schools have since then implemented a curriculum supporting this ideal. These standards in language arts and mathematics are supposed to help the nation prepare students for college and their future careers. The effects of common core, both positive and negative, lead to the debate on whether or not it should still be implemented in schools today, but thanks to federal funding it has made it hard to get rid of the program. It is because of this that the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal has decided to sue the federal government for violating the 10th amendment. Although many can agree that having standardized goals gives both the students and staff
As students in a Structure & Philosophy class, one of the main components has been to introduce and familiarize us with the No Child Left Behind Act. President Bush passed this legislation on January 8, 2002. The NCLB Act was designed to ensure each and every student the right to a fair education, to give parents more options in their child’s education, and to guarantee all teachers are highly qualified. By highly qualified, the act means teachers must have at least a bachelor’s degree, have full state certification or licensure, and have demonstrated competence in their subject areas (US Dept. of Education).
The NCLB Act was signed by former President George Bush in 2002, which was created to improve student and achievement gaps. In the article, “No Child Left behind and the Transformation of Federal Education Policy”, Patrick J. McGuinn exclaimed, “No Child Left behind is an attempt by the federal government to regulate educational policy in the 50 states” (Patrick McGuinn,2007, p. 370). It is also designed to make sure that all students can achieve high standards from all states which include students with disabilities. Before the NCLB was passed, students with disabilities were excluded from school assessments. Now that this act was ...
In the article “What Does It Mean to Educate the Whole Child?” Nel Noddings attempts to provide a deeper insight on what it means to educate the whole child. According to the article, public schools in the United States are currently facing a huge pressure to provide students with thorough and efficient education. In this connection, a program known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has endeavored to ensure that efficient education is provided to all minority children, especially the many who are in the inner-cities. Notwithstanding this endeavor, individuals from some quarters have criticized NCLB by claiming that it is an unfunded mandate since it comes up with costly demands without providing necessary resources to meet them. In effect, among
In society, education can be seen as a foundation for success. Education prepares people for their careers and allows them to contribute to society efficiently. However, there is an achievement gap in education, especially between Hispanics and Blacks. In other words, there is education inequality between these minorities and white students. This achievement gap is a social problem in the education system since this is affecting many schools in the United States. As a response to this social problem, the No Child Left Behind Act was passed to assist in closing this achievement gap by holding schools more accountable for the students’ progress. Unsuccessful, the No Child Left Behind Act was ineffective as a social response since schools were pushed to produce high test scores in order to show a student’s academic progress which in turn, pressured teachers and students even more to do well on these tests.
The NCLB Act is not effective because of the current situation of state governments calling certain schools “failures” because of their low exam scores, thereby reducing funding to the school. If the federal government is funding the NCLB Act for after school programs, it would seem that it was funding a non-effective program. I have broken down the consequences as follows.