To start my project I am doing a short over view of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. According to the US Department of Education there are four pillars of NCLB. "NCLB is based on stronger accountability for results, more freedom for states and communities, proven education methods, and more choices for parents."
stronger accountability for results requires schools that are not making adequate yearly progress to provide supplemantal services to their students. After 5 years of not makeing adequate yearly progress schools must make dramatic changes to the way they run the school.
More freedom for states and communities allows states and school district to allocate thier federal funding to advance their schools.
Proven education methods must be used. Methods that have been proven through rigorous scientific research must be used in the classroom.
More choices for parents; more choices for parents of children attending low performing schools. If a school doesn't meet adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years, parents may transfer their children to a better performing school within thier district for free, including transportation costs.
NCLB leave behind norm referenced tests: assessments that compare on testtsker to his or her peers for standard referenced assessments: assessments that measure each student against the concrete standards. There have been both positive and negative comments about NCLB. As a parent I am glad to see more accountability of both school and teachers. As an education student I have not seen the greater effect of NCLB on teachers and schools so I do not pick a side.
sources www.dpi.wi.gov , www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml
I'm not sure how I feel about NCLB yet either. I think that it was a good idea, but it was not implemented effectively. I think that someone needs to be held accountable, otherwise no one would be motivated to make a change in the education of the children at schools. However, I don't think that it is fair to have all the blame going to the teachers at low performing schools, because there are plenty of other conditions that could affect the student's test-taking abilities such as being ELL students. So like I said before, I'm not sure where I stand on the issue either.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jessie. I do believe that NCLB is a good idea in theory but put into practice it is not very effective. What NCLB is supposed to achieve is an excellent idea, but that is not happening and it has been said that more and more students are being left behind. I believe this is caused by teachers teaching to the test, not because they want to but because in order to get more funding they have to. I also think that a major flaw is rewarding schools that are performing well. In most cases, the schools that are performing well are the schools who already have the funding to get the resources that are needed. The schools that are not performing well as doing so because they don't have the funding or the resources to do so. Wouldn't it make sense to help the schools that are in most need of the help instead of increasing the gap even more?
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