No Child Left Behind
In 2001, the 107th United States Congress enacted the “No Child Left Behind” policy, an act focused around enhancing education across the entire country. The legislation created both state- and nation-wide testing standards across multiple subjects, including history, math and reading comprehension. President George W. Bush described the law as the “cornerstone of my administration.” Clearly, our children are our future, and “Too many of our neediest children are being left behind.” No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is necessary to the development of our nation’s future because it has been proven to increase test scores, as well as encourages early learning.
No Child Left Behind has a proven track record. In July of 2005, the Department of Education released a study known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in July 2005. This showed an improved student achievement in both reading and math that can be directly linked to No Child Left Behind. This means that, thanks to NCLB, students scored better on various standardized tests all across the country. This means that kids are reaching vital milestones in achievement and are actually learning and retaining the necessary information to grow and thrive into an intelligent and independent adult.
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Children who begin school with basic pre-reading and language skills are far more likely to learn to read better in the early grades and succeed more in later years. In fact, according to the CATO Institute, most adolescents and adults that face reading problems come as a result of issues that could’ve been avoided through better instruction in early childhood learning. Clearly it is never too early to begin molding children’s language skills by reading with and talking to them. NCLB targets younger ages to ensure that the education process is improved from start to
Reading First initiative provides proven methods of insurances and scientific based research that help guide children to learn to read. Reading First provides assistance
“The Common Core: Far from Home” is an article that discusses the discrepancies of the common core standards, which is one of the most significant changes in our educational system. One of the reasons is that the shift to move to common core was so quiet that 79% of American voters knew nothing about it. The author states that saying that common core is based off of standards is true but can be misleading because the standards are not a curriculum and it is left up to school districts to figure out the details. However, the standards come with a testing program that is more rigorous than the NCLB act of 2001.
The No Child Left Behind Act required more responsibility from the students of the school and more responsibility from the teachers of the school. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was then reauthorized again in 2015 by the President Barack Obama. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was then named the Every Student Succeeds Act. The Every Student Succeeds Act was a United States law that was passed in December of 2015. This Act was made to govern the United States K–12 public education
In 2009, governors and state commissioners alike came together to formulate the development and implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Through membership organizations such as the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) (http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/frequently-asked-questions/), they were able to create a system that represented a clear-cut caliber of expectations meant for students in kindergarten to grade 12. Over the past several years, new amendments have been added to keep up with the standard that 48 states have adopted into their school systems, although the adoption of the policy was voluntary (http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/frequently-asked-questions/). Despite majority of the states in the U.S. having decided on the policy already, there has been conflict amongst the parents of the children who are subject to the rigorous and exhausting amount of tests they must take to keep up with what is fixed into their school systems. The argument against test-taking is a controversy in itself as many believe
This non-periodical web source gives a brief overview of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. To start off, standardized testing is explained in detail, giving specific examples under the 2002 law of what tests are required at certain ages. The main idea is the goal of the No Child Left Behind Act, which is to shorten the educational gap between regular and advanced students. There are four pillars of the bill; accountability, flexibility, research-based education and parent options. The source further explains the pillars, for example, “Accountability: to ensure those students who are disadvantaged, achieve academic
By linking the high-stakes mandated tests to the Common Core gave Kentucky a bed of data to study before many other states even thought about transitioning to the new
With the scandal starting in 2008, America realized that this indignity thrived under George W. Bush’s presidency. The administration which provided the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) within schools. NCLB was President George W. Bush 's reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1964 (Kahlenburg, 2008, p. 1). Those investigating the effectiveness of it have suggested that the Act encouraged the removal and expulsion of "challenging" students through strict performance standards (Kim et al. 2012, p. 25). This criticism suggests the involvement of NCLB as a force perpetuating the "School to Prison Pipeline" connection.
There is a shift to focus on literacy over all else, even at the preschool age level, where it may not be as developmentally appropriate (Tobin et al., 2009, p.183). A relatable example of this is when the American preschool teacher at St. Timothy’s stated, “We have to explain, justify out approach more than we used to: Cutting with a scissors and playing with Play-doh teach fine motor control, which will help with holding a pen” (Tobin, 2009, p. 167) Another teacher was taking pictures of children doing activities to prove that learning was taking place (Tobin et al., 2009, p.164). This pressure to keep records and justify, was an instance that I very much related to while reading.
Her excerpt was published in 2014. During the 2000s, up until today, there has been many debates and issues regarding the education system. Years before her excerpt was released, an act called No Child Left Behind No Child Left Behind was passed in 2001. This act provided poor children educational assistance and ensured that every child would have an access to education. However, schools would be held accountable for students who are not achieving the expected level of academic success.
In exchange for the strong accountability, No Child Left Behind gives states more flexibility in the use of their federal funding. As a result, principals and administrators have more time to devote to students’ needs and spend less time dealing with government forms. They have more freedom to be innovative and give resources as they are needed; thereby giving parents a greater opportunity to decide what schools need which programs. There has been a lot of controversy about No Child Left Behind. Teachers, schools, educational organizations and even some states have come forward and said that No Child Left Behind to be ineffective, not working, and overall flawed for many different reasons.
Revision and the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1964 could affect real change to current practices. Its current version, the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), extended the testing and accountability measures first enacted into legislation in the prior revision and reauthorization of the ESEA, the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994. NCLB led has to massive amounts of data being collected and stored in ways unimaginable when it was signed by President George W. Bush. This large scale digital data collection would continue under both the House and Senate’s recent revisions of the ESEA, as would the escalation of digital learning tools. In July, 2015, the House of Representatives of the 114th Congress approved
The purpose of the NCLB is simple--to hold schools accountable for students' learning and achievement. Since the establishment of the NCLB, American Education has shifted its focus toward almost entirely math, science, and reading skills which must be tested under the NCLB legislation. Moreover, since the NCLB does not require the testing of art skills, schools have lost all incentives to continue enhancing their art education programs and instead focus their time on the subjects which require progress testing by the NCLB. Subsequently, art education has continued to receive fewer amounts of funding and revision. What will art education look like in future decades if funding continues to decrease?
And like me, many New York students were reminded time and time again of the city’s No Child Left Behind doctrine, and yet I continued to struggle throughout the school year, sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss, until I found myself staring at my Common Core
Therefore, the curriculum will continue to narrow even more than it did under George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Program, as a result of the link created between teacher wages and student scores. Furthermore, there will be less time available for the arts, as most arts classes do not have standardized test to evaluate student performance (Ravitch).
Recently, the Common Core State Standards were developed and kids were going to be tested more than ever. However, all of this education reform has been a failure because our testing scores have not improved, the testing makes children suffer, and it doesn’t improve how teachers teach. Education reforms has had little effect on our testing scores. The average score for a 17 year old student doing a reading test in the beginning of school is 285 and over 40