Negatives in No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
What's wrong with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation that President George W. Bush and key members of the U.S. Congress put together in such a cooperative spirit in 2001? The NCLB was signed into law (in January, 2002) with such fanfare that teachers, parents, students and school boards nationwide had high hopes for a revolution in the way teachers teach and students learn. But something has gone wrong -- in fact many things about NCLB just haven't panned out the way they were supposed to. The NCLB era is simply not what it was cracked up to be, and this paper reviews and critiques the reasons why, and the specific points of contention vis-a-vis NCLB's weaknesses and flaws. The Obama Administration has pledged to revise NCLB, but there are many legislative and political challenges facing the administration's plans, and as of August, 2011, Obama has not introduced new legislation.
Statewide Standards / Federal Funding / Quality of Education
Something must be terribly wrong with this well-intentioned legislation because a number of states openly rebelled against the provisions of NCLB shortly after the legislation went into effect. Those states include Utah and Virginia (both legislatures voted not to comply with NCLB), and Hawaii, Arizona, New Mexico and Vermont (theses states have rejected all of some parts of NCLB). According to Michele McNeil, writing in Education Week (July, 2011), Idaho, Montana and South Dakota have recently told the U.S. Department of Education that they "…will stop the clock as the 2014 deadline approaches for bringing all students to proficiency in math and language arts." These states intend to "freeze" proficiency targets at 2009-10 levels, McNeil explains. That way these three states hope to limit the number of schools that may fail to make adequate yearly progress (AYP); failing to achieve AYP means penalties must be paid.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction for Idaho schools, Tom Luna, recently wrote the following to the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan: "Idaho, like many other states, does not have the luxury of spending time and limited...
Moreover, the legislation contains loopholes that exempt some states from complying in some ways and it allows for some practices that distort the test results in some situations. These loopholes and exceptions are themselves impediments to any good science that might come from the testing regimes required (McDermott & Jensen, 2005). The authors of "Dubious Sovereignty" describe yet another of NCLB's contradictions. The proponents of the law say it protects
It has already been noted that schools have had to trim down on the subjects that are being taught, and the depths to which certain subjects are taught, and this ha of course had a direct effect on teachers' ability to both direct their own teaching and serve what many feel is the true purpose of their work as teachers -- providing true cultural knowledge and critical thinking rather
If minorities are to ever be given equal footing in the race to influence, political representation and economic balance, they must first be given fair recognition within America's educational system. In order for educators to achieve this necessary level of integration, however, the emphases which are part and parcel of No Child Left Behind must simply be repealed. As it comports with most other aspects of the Bush Administration which is several months from exiting office,
The shift toward standardized testing has failed to result in a meaningful reduction of high school dropout rates, and students with disabilities continue to be marginalized by the culture of testing in public education (Dynarski et al., 2008). With that said, the needs of students with specific educational challenges are diverse and complex, and the solutions to their needs are not revealed in the results of standardized testing (Crawford &
When a president of the United States begins incorporating religious rhetoric into his speeches, alarm bells must sound. When that same president allocates taxpayer monies to religious groups, then citizens should be experiencing widespread panic. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act is no less frightening than the faith-based initiative. Hiding behind good intentions, the No Child Left Behind Act fails to take into account a major factor: reality. Jim Donlevy
Policy assessments must be based on the most appropriate data sets. Qualitative data is the most appropriate data set in educational research. Interactions abound in education. Those interactions create a complex matrix of issues affecting education effectiveness: class, gender, and learning style all impact learning but those variables also interact with classroom environment and peer group issues. Education is a process of communication, communication between the learner and his or
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now