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“Did the No Child Left Leave the Money Behind”
“No Child Left Behind left the Money behind,” according to President Obama meaning that unfulfilled funding promises have limited the program’s effectiveness in improving public education. The No Child Left Behind Act has been around since April 1965, when it was first known as Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act is right, however, the way that it is being implemented is wrong; therefore, there needs to be a better plan and a greater effort to ensure the education of each child.
In April 1965, the 89th Congress and President Lyndon Johnson over saw the enactment of the original ESEA. This federal government statute provided the significants of American education. It was originally signed to help the schools with students from low-income households. By the twenty-first century, this act was responsible for distributing more then $13 billion each year to the public schools. These schools were being funded to help low income students; however, the schools still accepted the money as “general financial aid” to for whatever purpose they chose.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001(NCLB), was proposed to President Bush on January 23, 2001. One year later the act was signed into the law on January 2, 2002. This law require states to give students in the third to the eighth grade an annually standard reading and mathematics test. Once all the test scores have been completed, each school must meet the state “adequate yearly progress,” also known as the AYP. If the school fail to meet the AYP, it will receive federal Title 1 funding to help them to meet its state AYP and will be publicly labeled as “in need of improvement.”
However if the school does not meet the AYP in the third years, it must provide technical assistance, and the students must be offered a chance to relocate to another public school. Also, those schools that fail to meet the “adequate yearly progress” must offer extra assistance such as private tutoring. Furthermore, if a low performance school continues to be on the APY for three consecutive. This act also looks at the qualifications of each teacher to make sure that they are highly qualified to teach.
The No Child Left Behind Act is not only costing money; but also costing valuable instructional time, staff time, and administrative time. The students are not benefiting from the act. They are losing out on valuable instructional time to allow for test preparation and administration.
The NCLB has caused Federal Underfunding by the Bush Administration and yet has required states to comply with all provisions of the NCLB or they will risk losing federal funds. Senator Ted Kennedy, a former sponsor of NCLB and Senate Education Committee Chair, said “The tragedy is that these long overdue reforms are finally in place, but the funds are not.” The other side might say that the schools should be happy to receive money from the federal government. However, most of the states have to make budget cuts in the non-tested school subjects such as science, history, foreign language, performaning arts. They also are having budget cuts on books, and classroom supplies. The full funding that was promised to the school is not there.
Many teachers are not able to do what they went to school for, which is to teach. Teachers are teaching the students how to test, rather than teaching the primary goals of education. The reason why teachers teach to the test is because they are graded based upon the scores of their students, which determines who well the teacher is teaching the students. Although, the NCLB emphasizes on reading and math, which students have to do in order to past any other subject. Some teacher prepare for the standardized test for at least 30 minutes a day. Each state make their own standardized test and of those states make their test easy for the students to pass. I believe that every child does not test well on standardized test, not even the brightest of children. I can testify to that statement, because I was a honor roll student in high school, even a member of National Honor Society, and I did not test well on the SAT or ACT. For example, some students suffer from test anxiety. Since that is a proven statement, anxiety can cause a drastic effect on the test results. Nevertheless, it has been proven that children that come from an economically disadvantaged home score lower than children that come a stable home.
The NCLB also set very high teaching qualifications for new teachers such as having a college degree and passing a battery of proficiency test. Also, the NCBL requires existing teachers to pass the proficiency test in order to keep their job. These new requirements have caused major problems in obtaining qualified teachers in subjects needed the most such as math and science, and in areas where school districts already have shortages. Because of this act many teacher have decided to retire or move on to a higher level of teaching.
The NCBL requires schools to focus on providing quality education to students who often feel underseved, including students with physical and learning disabilities and from low-income families. Some people believe that African American students come from low-income homes, and that they are the ones who always need the extra assistance from the government, but when is comes down to the education of students, race does not matter. Help is help no matter how one person looks at the situation.
According to Deborah White, the NCLB faults the schools and curriculum for student failure, but critics claim that there are other factors to blame. Examples of these factors include: classroom size, old and damaged school buildings, hunger, homelessness, and the lack of health care. The objective of the No Child Left Behind Act is in the right spirit but the way that it is being implemented is wrong; therefore, this act should be disposed unless of the government is willing to improve it. We need to make a difference with the education of our children such as voting on the act of or making some adjustments with the consent of classroom teachers. It maybe your child next.
“Did the No Child Left Leave the Money Behind”“No Child Left Behind left the Money behind,” according to President Obama meaning that unfulfilled funding promises have limited the program’s effectiveness in improving public education. The No Child Left Behind Act has been around since April 1965, when it was first known as Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act is right, however, the way that it is being implemented is wrong; therefore, there needs to be a better plan and a greater effort to ensure the education of each child.
In April 1965, the 89th Congress and President Lyndon Johnson over saw the enactment of the original ESEA. This federal government statute provided the significants of American education. It was originally signed to help the schools with students from low-income households. By the twenty-first century, this act was responsible for distributing more then $13 billion each year to the public schools. These schools were being funded to help low income students; however, the schools still accepted the money as “general financial aid” to for whatever purpose they chose.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001(NCLB), was proposed to President Bush on January 23, 2001. One year later the act was signed into the law on January 2, 2002. This law require states to give students in the third to the eighth grade an annually standard reading and mathematics test. Once all the test scores have been completed, each school must meet the state “adequate yearly progress,” also known as the AYP. If the school fail to meet the AYP, it will receive federal Title 1 funding to help them to meet its state AYP and will be publicly labeled as “in need of improvement.”
However if the school does not meet the AYP in the third years, it must provide technical assistance, and the students must be offered a chance to relocate to another public school. Also, those schools that fail to meet the “adequate yearly progress” must offer extra assistance such as private tutoring. Furthermore, if a low performance school continues to be on the APY for three consecutive. This act also looks at the qualifications of each teacher to make sure that they are highly qualified to teach.
The No Child Left Behind Act is not only costing money; but also costing valuable instructional time, staff time, and administrative time. The students are not benefiting from the act. They are losing out on valuable instructional time to allow for test preparation and administration.
The NCLB has caused Federal Underfunding by the Bush Administration and yet has required states to comply with all provisions of the NCLB or they will risk losing federal funds. Senator Ted Kennedy, a former sponsor of NCLB and Senate Education Committee Chair, said “The tragedy is that these long overdue reforms are finally in place, but the funds are not.” The other side might say that the schools should be happy to receive money from the federal government. However, most of the states have to make budget cuts in the non-tested school subjects such as science, history, foreign language, performaning arts. They also are having budget cuts on books, and classroom supplies. The full funding that was promised to the school is not there.
Many teachers are not able to do what they went to school for, which is to teach. Teachers are teaching the students how to test, rather than teaching the primary goals of education. The reason why teachers teach to the test is because they are graded based upon the scores of their students, which determines who well the teacher is teaching the students. Although, the NCLB emphasizes on reading and math, which students have to do in order to past any other subject. Some teacher prepare for the standardized test for at least 30 minutes a day. Each state make their own standardized test and of those states make their test easy for the students to pass. I believe that every child does not test well on standardized test, not even the brightest of children. I can testify to that statement, because I was a honor roll student in high school, even a member of National Honor Society, and I did not test well on the SAT or ACT. For example, some students suffer from test anxiety. Since that is a proven statement, anxiety can cause a drastic effect on the test results. Nevertheless, it has been proven that children that come from an economically disadvantaged home score lower than children that come a stable home.
The NCLB also set very high teaching qualifications for new teachers such as having a college degree and passing a battery of proficiency test. Also, the NCBL requires existing teachers to pass the proficiency test in order to keep their job. These new requirements have caused major problems in obtaining qualified teachers in subjects needed the most such as math and science, and in areas where school districts already have shortages. Because of this act many teacher have decided to retire or move on to a higher level of teaching.
The NCBL requires schools to focus on providing quality education to students who often feel underseved, including students with physical and learning disabilities and from low-income families. Some people believe that African American students come from low-income homes, and that they are the ones who always need the extra assistance from the government, but when is comes down to the education of students, race does not matter. Help is help no matter how one person looks at the situation.
According to Deborah White, the NCLB faults the schools and curriculum for student failure, but critics claim that there are other factors to blame. Examples of these factors include: classroom size, old and damaged school buildings, hunger, homelessness, and the lack of health care. The objective of the No Child Left Behind Act is in the right spirit but the way that it is being implemented is wrong; therefore, this act should be disposed unless of the government is willing to improve it. We need to make a difference with the education of our children such as voting on the act of or making some adjustments with the consent of classroom teachers. It maybe your child next.
