No Child Left Behind Act

How To Structure A School

Throughout the history of the United States educational system, much of the control over curriculum has resided in the hands of local school districts. That changed radically with the passing of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2002. This act forced states to take a more active role in the way that their schools developed and implemented content and curriculum. Still, there is a great deal of flexibility that still resides in at the local level. In most cases, schools need simply to follow guidelines developed at the state level.

Throughout the country, most schools follow the same basic curriculum, with allowances for differences in demographics and needs of the student population.

Math: Most states require a minimum of two years of mathematics. This may include algebra, pre-calculus, geometry and statistics. Some areas also offer calculus.
Science: Most states require a minimum of two years of science classes. This may include physics, chemistry and biology.
English: Most states require four years of English. Typical classes include oral languages, compositions, humanities and literature.
Social Sciences: Most states require three years of social sciences including a variety of history course, economics and government.]
Physical Education: Most states require at least one year of gym.
Health: Many states have a health course requirement. Human sexuality, nutrition, anatomy or drug awareness are examples of health courses offered by some states.

The above requirements apply primarily to students on course for graduation. Some states or school districts may offer different choices to a certain degree, but the above-mentioned classes are pretty standard across the country.

It is important to note that in spite of the flexibility offered by the federal government, most states have opted to follow very similar curriculum. This works in favor of students who move mid way through their school careers. This may change as the governement looks at a variety of reform measures.

Filed Under: Education History Tagged With: Curriculum, No Child Left Behind Act, School district

Learning At Home

While the reasons behind home schooling vary, there is no denying that it is on the rise. In 2007, more than 1.5 million students were taught at home. This represents nearly a 75% increase since 1999. Many attribute this rise to the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 while others site moral or religious reasons. No matter why there has been an increase, it is important to note that the rules governing home schooling have changed as well.

Students that are home schooled are expected to cover the same material as students in traditional schools. This is sometimes handled through the use of a teacher or administrator who explains guidelines, follows progress and arranges for standardized tests. In many cases the students are effectively taught by a family member, although older students often use virtual classrooms, effectively self-teaching. There are many home-schooling organizations throughout the country that help parents and students successfully complete home schooling and graduation.

There are opponents to the idea of home schooling. Some teachers and administrators believe that there is no effective way to home school. They often cite the lack of interaction with social peers and believe that an important part of the education process is socialization. There is, of course, concern about academic quality as well. It is interesting to note, however, that home-schooled students typically score high on standardized tests. It may be that the most vocal critics are more concerned with the lost of potential funding for a school as more and more students turn to home schooling.

Home schooling is a personal choice, but it can also be a valid one. With the proper oversight, students who are home schooled can walk away from their high school experience with as good, if not better, an education that students who attend public schools.

Filed Under: Parental Involvement Tagged With: Education, No Child Left Behind Act, Standardized test

Problems and Issues with the No Child Left Behind Act

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In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act was championed as the solution for the many failures of the American school system. With its basis on standardized methods of learning for all students, the hope was that a uniform comprehension of essential concepts could be achieved by all students, regardless of economic situation, race, or ethnicity.

However, No Child Left Behind was eventually shown to have several shortcomings that ultimately thwarted the process of true learning in favor of “teaching to the test” in an effort to ensure that students could master the concepts that they’d be quizzed about in a test environment, with no promise that they’d actually retained any skills that would help them succeed in life.

It was soon discovered that the implementation of the Act would require large amounts of funding that many school districts simply were not able to access. An endless cycle began when already under-funded schools had their state funding cut, but were warned that they must continue to comply with all federal mandated standards, or risk losing federal funding. To compensate, many schools were forced to cut back on their funding to subjects that were not tested through No Child Left Behind, such as music, art and foreign language studies.

Additionally, each state can write its own standardized version of the No Child Left Behind tests, enabling them to cater to areas of known weakness. In a constant effort to achieve satisfactory test scores and receive a steady flow of federal funding, schools have focused on adjusting the curriculum subjects in ways that will produce high test scores, rather than fostering the constant learning of essential concepts.

Educational reform will be a long process that takes patience and hard work to achieve, but advocates are hopeful that a system can be put in place that emphasizes genuine learning over standardized test scores.

Filed Under: Government Rulings Tagged With: Education, Education reform, No Child Left Behind Act, Standardized test

What Is the No Child Left Behind Act?

The No Child Left Behind Act is a bill that was signed into law in 2001 under then President George W. Bush. The bill addressed issues surrounding eduction, specifically K-12 education in the United States.
Senator Ted Kennedy, now deceased, was a co-author of the bill. It was a noted bill because not only did it propose and implement wide sweeping educational reforms, but was also a non-partisan bill that received much support on both sides of the congressional aisle.
President Bush’s staff proposed the bill shortly after he took office in January, 2001. It was passed by the house in May, 2001 and the senate in June, 2001.
The bill supported standards based education reform. This means gauging performance by standardized testing and creating standards to which every child in every school should be live up to. These goals are measurable through performance of both individual students and entire schools on standardized tests. The standards are set by each individual state for students in that state.
In 2007, Congress increased funding of No Child Left Behind, often abbreviated NCLB to $54.4 billion a year.
Proponents of the bill claim it increases teacher accountability. All students in their classrooms are expected to meet the standards. If some of their students don’t, a teacher faces punishment including and up to firing from his or her position. This makes a teacher work harder to make sure that every student learns the curriculum covered on the test.
Another advantage is the attention to minority populations such as disabled persons, and racial minorities. Every student regardless of their background is expected to perform well on the testing so teachers have an incentive to make sure students from minority populations don’t fall behind.
The No Child Left Behind Act set forth standards for all students and accountability for teachers.

Filed Under: Government Rulings Tagged With: Education, George W. Bush, No Child Left Behind Act, Standardized test, Student

The Benefits and Drawbacks of the No Child Left Behind Act

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The No Child Left Behind act was introduced under the leadership of President George W. Bush, Jr. in 2002. Its intention was to ensure that overall education standards were improved by requiring teachers to adhere to federally mandated curriculum requirements. However, it has been adamantly protested by students, parents and teachers alike since its initial inception.

Many teachers unions dislike the program’s requirements because they feel that standardized test scores have not improved to show evidence of its success. Since the program is based on goal setting and high expectations which are measured through the administration of standardized tests, it would seem that examination of the nation’s scores on such tests would be a sound indicator of if the No Child Left Behind Act is doing what it was meant to do.

However, many children are bewildered by the complicated rules that some standardized tests can pose, leading their parents to argue that standardized tests are not the best way to measure knowledge level or comprehension.

In fact, some universities are now moving towards not requiring standardized test scores as part of the normal admissions process.

Other opponents of the No Child Left Behind Act feel that the emphasis on higher standards has worsened the already pervasive national teacher shortage.

However, the Act does measure educational progress by ethnicity, and some supporters feel that this helps to close the achievement gap between white students and those who are minorities. Additionally, the Act chooses to focus on students who often need extra support, such as those from low-income families, or students who are disabled.

Finally, parents are provided with a periodic detailed explanation of their child’s performance. This helps to indicate any potential areas of strengths and weaknesses, allowing parents to seek special tutoring or assistance in these areas as needed.

Filed Under: Student Rights Tagged With: Education, George W. Bush, No Child Left Behind Act, Standardized test

Criticism of the No Child Left Behind Act

The No Child Left Behind Act is a landmark education act passed in 2001 under President George W. Bush. The act introduced sweeping reforms to the American educational system. while the act has been praised by some people, others have voiced criticism of the act for several reasons.
One of the points of contention for critics of the No Child Left Behind Act is that it sets up unrealistic goals. The act says that every student must test to grade level in reading and math by 2014. Critics say that’s simply not possible. That there’s no way 100 percent of students will test to grade level in those subjects because some students have mental disabilities and others just might have a poor test day.
Another problem with the No Child Left Behind Act according to critics is that it sets up school systems, administrators and teachers to “game” or cheat the system in order to make sure their class or school is within guidelines of the act. For example, some schools classify dropouts differently in order to stay within the guidelines. Also, teachers have been accused of helping students during testing so that they pass the standardized tests.
The standardized tests themselves are another worry for the critics of the No Child Left Behind Act. Some people feel like the standardized tests harm the American educational system because teachers teach for the test and focus solely on problems students are likely to see on the tests rather than trying to make sure their students are understanding concepts. This type of teaching is known as “teaching to the test.”
Critics of the No Child Left Behind Act look to many effects of the standardized testing and standards put in place by the act and say that it is harming the American educational system.

Filed Under: Parental Involvement Tagged With: No Child Left Behind Act

Hope for the Average Student

When the “No Child Left Behind” law passed it was a major turning point in the way that education was approached. Under the law, there was to be no student “left behind.” This meant that if a student was struggling, a teacher needed to step up and provide the necessary arrangements to get them the help that they needed to achieve their goals and graduate from school. It was believed that with the passing of this law children would have more hope for the future and hope to continue their education after high school.

While this law might have helped inspire children and high school students all across the country it didn’t really inspire them like lawmakers had hoped it would. Luckily for students all over the United States another form of education has popped up and offered every student no matter what their test scores are, the opportunity to a higher education.

Online colleges have made it possible for those students who do not perform well on tests to be able to achieve their goals and dreams of having a college education. Learn more at earnmydegree.com. The average online school has a less strict admissions requirement than those of the brick and mortar schools. This means that students who found it difficult in high school to take tests or just struggled in various subjects now have the possibility of earning a college degree.

While the various lawmakers tried to inspire a nation to learn it wasn’t until the invention of something modern and technologically advanced did the inspiration really come in. Now no matter how much a student is struggling in school they are able to look ahead and realize that a college degree is within their grasp. With online colleges there is no reason a child should feel left behind as their friends go off to college. Now they can too!

Filed Under: Student Rights Tagged With: No Child Left Behind Act, Student, United States

Favorable Results from the No Child Left Behind Act

The No Child Left Behind Act was a sweeping educational reform act passed in 2001 under President George W. Bush. While the act has come under criticism for several reasons, fans of the act say several favorable trends have come about directly as result of the act.
The No Child Left Behind Act instituted requirements that each student and school must live up to. The results are gaged through standardized testing. The testing varies from state to state though because each state develops and oversees the programs related to No Child Left Behind.
One of the advantages according to fans of the act is increased test scores. Data shows that test scores improved after the act was passed. This, proponents say, shows that No Child Left Behind is working and improving the quality of American education.
Another positive to come out of the No Child Left Behind Act is that the system is an improvement over the old system where schools had to live up to local standards.
A big advantage according to the No Child Left Behind Act’s backers is the increased sense of accountability. Schools and teachers must be accountable for the grades their students receive on the yearly tests. If a school or classroom as a whole performs poorly the school and teacher risk punishment up to and including firing.

Yet another advantage pointed to by those in favor of the act is an increased attention to minority populations. These populations must perform as well on the standardized testing as other groups so more efforts are made to make sure they’re up to speed.

The No Child Left Behind Act is a controversial act that has both negatives and positives. Fans of the act say that the act has improved education through increased accountability and say that improved test scores show that the No Child Left Behind Act works.

Filed Under: Student Rights Tagged With: No Child Left Behind Act