No Child-Left Behind Act

No Child Left Behind Act As a result of America’s struggling education system, the children of our country are failing to acquire essential skills and knowledge necessary for success in our world today. Students are lacking proper preparation and determination that is required to go after their goals. There are many absent credentials in the education field. Students in our country need to be more prepared for future events, starting with an increase in test scores of individual students. George W. Bush proposed the “No Child Left Behind Act” (NCLB) which was signed into law on January 8, 2002 after the approval from the House of Representatives and Senate. The main purpose behind this law was to set high national standards in education
to increase the performance of students. Furthermore, (NCLB) requires schools to close academic gaps between economically advantaged students and students who are from different economic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds as well as students with disabilities. However, even after being in effect for years it is proven that the (NCLB) is not working. A cornerstone to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is that educators should engage classroom practices that work". The law specifically implies that there is a great importance in choosing instructional approaches that are "based on scientific research and have a proven track record of success". (www.ballard-tighe.com Meeting the Provisions of the No Child Left behind Act Pg. 2)
With scientifically based approaches this law hopes to "close the student achievement gap". One of the scientific approaches often used is the "Active Learning" approach. Learning with this approach takes on a view that "learning is most effective when students actively apply new knowledge in meaningful activities that link to their existing knowledge and skill development". (www.ballard-tighe.com Meeting the Provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act Pg. 2) This learning scheme or approach adheres to principles in Piaget's theory of cognitive child development.
Yearly school progress is calculated through standardized testing. If most of the students from a certain category failed to meet the requirement, then that school will be more likely to get sanctioned. Sanctioned is giving permission or approval that they will be cut back on their funding. These demographics display whether or not the students absorbed and retained necessary info, thus forth evaluating the productivity of the teachers in these schools. Those that meet and exceed standards will be eligible for additional funds. Students in consistently low-performing schools must be given the chance to transfer to higher-performing schools, at district expense. The target at every school is that the students should be advanced in math and reading.
Another big role in this program is the family involvement. The families need to be focus on the goal that is made for their children in this program. They need to look at the letters sent home by the teachers, work with their child after school, and make sure they go to all appointments that they have scheduled. The (NCLB) will help by,” convene an annual meeting, at a convenient time, to which all parents of participating children shall be invited and encouraged to attend, to inform parents of their school's participation under this part and to explain the requirements of this part, and the right of the parents to be involved”. (No Child Left Behind Act SEC. 1118 Parental Involvement) Without parents involvement this program will not work and will not help the children progress in education and learning. The parents need to help the teachers of this program so that we can better this program and better the children in it. (www.ballard-tighe.com Meeting the Provisions of the No Child Left behind Act Pg. 2)
Now we get to the qualifications for teachers in the (NCLB), Beginning with the first day of the first school year after the date of enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, each local educational agency receiving assistance under this part shall ensure that all teachers hired after such day and teaching in a program supported with funds under this part are highly qualified in core academic subject. (No Child Left Behind Act SEC. 1119 Qualifications for teachers and Paraprofessionals)
By doing this I think that it improved on the education that are children gets now and the amount of education the teachers need. However this is not the case for special education teachers they do not fall under the same strict rules that the regular teachers do, and that is because they do not directly instruct students in a core academic subject, which are English, reading or language arts, math, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history and geography. (No Child Left Behind Act SEC. 1119 Qualifications for teachers and Paraprofessionals)
I heavily disagree with the special education not having the same rules like the other teachers.
I believe if you are in a school then you should be as much educated as all the other teachers there. It is also vital that substitutes be able to perform their duties well. Although short-term substitute teachers do not need to meet the highly qualified teacher requirements under No Child Left Behind, it is strongly recommended that a long-term substitute teacher meet the requirements for a highly qualified teacher as defined in above. They should also bear in mind that the law requires parent notification if a student has received instruction for four or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified. (No Child Left Behind Act SEC. 1119 Qualifications for teachers and Paraprofessionals) I think this is a great way to find out if schools are keeping up with the people who are teaching are children, because the big thing is, the No Child Left Behind Act is nothing without highly qualified teachers teaching are
students.
Now let’s get to how this program is segregating students. Just in the last couple years bullying has grown in the schools and has been a huge problem and some people fell that the (NCLB) is the cause. With the (NCLB) there are student the get segregated to do some special training in English, writing and math and they are taken out of their regular classes to get this help. Well by doing this other student’s see these students as stupid or different and they make fun of them and pick on them, or just see them as outcast in the school. There has to be another way to train a student that is behind without making him fell that he/she is an outcast, maybe do an after school program. Then there is the government and how they have their foot in the door on this program.
Well you can see that the (NCLB) is praised and criticized by educators and parents. Some teachers and parents think that the (NCLB) is biased and against diverse and disabled students, because many schools lose their federal funding, due to show Adequate Yearly Progress. Some teachers argue the (NCLB) because the students are taking a test that is above their academic grade level. With these arguments congress has yet to reform it, but President Obama has argued with congress to reform (NCLB), he also asked them to have a new bill on his desk by the start of the 2012-2013 school year. It did not happen. So because of that President Obama and the Secretary of Education have initiated the “Race to the Top”. This bill encourages schools to make education changes themselves, and then the state will get points based on the performance of their teachers, and principals. (Is No Child Left behind Effective for All Students pg. 3)
So the (NCLB) has good and bad thing about it, but it is clear that some things need to be changed to make it better.
Some of the good is that schools need to take accountability for students they teach, teachers should be highly qualified and parents should have choices on where they send their children to school. However the faults are that this country needs to look at the children’s needs and treat them as individuals that need their education tailored to them not tailored to what fits for the government. The real people that should be trying to come up with a good bill are not congress, but the teachers that teach every day in the schools, because the teachers know the students and their needs. So I urge everyone that wants to help our kids and our teachers of this country to speak out and make a change to better our education in this country, because the future of this nation is not us parents, or teachers, but the children. So speak up even if there is only one person that listens, because that is better than no one listening at
all.