Education is important. In the past not everyone was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to school and become educated. Many had to fight for the right to learn. Women and African Americans have had to fight for the right to be educated. Adrienne Rich, a writer and a teacher, describes the privilege of education, in her 1979 speech, “What does a Women Need to Know”, to the graduating class of Smith College. In her speech Rich talks about how there are many people, especially women, in the world who are illiterate. Educated people have not only the opportunity to become educated in content areas, such as math, and science, but education empowers people to be able to re-educate themselves in content that is not covered in the confides of school. People with such a privileged have the ability to teach themselves subjects that interest them (79). Today in the United States children have a unique opportunity to become privileged, to become educated. All children in the United States have a right to a free and appropriate public education, also known as F.A.P.E. (Cohen 9). However, currently the school system of the United States has been failing children. The current school system is denying children the privilege of an education. As an answer to the failing educational system, in 2002 Congress and President George W. Bush passed public law 107-110, also known as No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (“No Child Left Behind Act”). The law has good intentions; however, there are problems that have had troubling effects on the educational system, such as, a large amount of standardized testing, a focus on the average student’s education while ignoring individual differences and funding problems.
NCLB contains six major mandates, adequate yearly progress, teacher quality, student testing, parent involvement, scientifically based research and public school choice. In the first mandate, adequate yearly progress, all schools must prove that they are making adequate yearly progress to a state-determined level of proficiency. If a school fails to make adequate progress, then they are labeled as “in need of improvement.” After two years as a “in need of improvement” school, parents are given the offer of sending their child to another school in the district, and after three years at this status schools must take corrective action. If the school still continues as “in need of improvement” status, then their federal funding is threatened. By the school year 2013-2014 all students must be proficient (“No Child Left Behind Act”).
Under NCLB teachers must be “highly qualified” meaning all teachers must carry a state teaching credential, possess a bachelor’s degree, and pass a subject knowledge state test in their teaching field (“No Child Left Behind Act”). Before NCLB was passed schools were allowed to hire teachers that did not possess a teaching credential or did not even need to have completed their bachelor’s degree. Many teachers were hired under emergency credentials, which means they were given the permission to teach as long as they were working towards their credential. This meant that a teacher under emergency credential had to be taking at least one class that was towards getting a teaching credential. With NCLB this is not allowed all teachers must already have their teaching credential and their bachelor’s degree. Teachers must also pass a subject knowledge test in their field before the passage of NCLB a teacher did not necessarily need to pass a test in the subject in which they were teaching. In many cases teachers were being hired to fill positions that were not their specialty for instance English teachers were being hired to teach math to students.
Another requirement of the NCLB act is that students must be at least tested in the areas of reading/language arts and math, annually starting in third grade to eighth grade and at least once in high school. Science testing will begin in the 2007-2008 school year, only being tested once during grades 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12 (“No Child Left Behind Act”). Testing was not a requirement before NCLB, it was an option given to the school districts. Now, schools are forced to test the students and the results are looked at as a reflection of the school’s ability to provide a good education for students.
Parents are to be informed with detailed report cards on the conditions of the schools and the districts. Parents must be notified when a non-“highly qualified” teacher is teaching their child. (“No Child Left Behind Act”). School districts must release annual test scores for every major student group. These test scores must be easily read and understood so as not to confuse the readers, parents. Schools must also inform parents when one of their child’s teachers does not fit the requirements of a “highly qualified” teacher. That is, they currently do not hold a teacher credential or bachelor’s degree or they have not passed a subject matter state test in their teaching field (American Electronics Association).
Scientifically based research curriculum and strategies must be used in the classroom. That is schools cannot adopt reading, math or any other programs that have not been proven scientifically to improve students’ achievement.
Finally, as mentioned before, schools that fit the status of “in need of improvement” need to offer parents the option of placing their child in another school in the district (“No Child Left Behind Act”). At first glance NCLB act seems like a good bill. It has good intentions to improve the current education of students. However beneath the surface, there lie problems.
Standardized testing is base on how the students will be measured annually and how schools will be determined if they are proficient. Because the results of standardized testing can determine funding, extreme pressure is put on the schools, teachers and students to score well. In many cases school districts have students taking standardized tests frequently (in some cases a test every other month in each the subject areas) in hopes of preparing the students for the one that counts. Teachers teach towards the tests. Instead of teaching a well rounded education, teachers focus all their instruction on material that they know is on the tests. This kind of testing causes teachers to drill skills instead of helping their students apply their knowledge to get answers. In many cases, the testing becomes more of nuisance than of an evaluation tool. Timewise each time a test must be given, instruction time is lost. Many times teachers are forced to eliminate the more engaging activities and instead lecture because more material can be covered with lecture. The students are losing out an engaging education.
NCLB also mandates that 95% of the student population participate in the testing (American Electronics Association). This means that the majority students with disabilities are required to take the test with no accommodations. Only students with severe disabilities are exempt from testing. Many students with special needs receive accommodations or modifications to help service their needs. In teacher written tests, students with special needs might receive more time or have fewer questions to answer. There are varieties of accommodations and modifications that can be used, however, when it comes to state and district testing those accommodations and modifications cannot be used. This is like having a child, who cannot swim, in a pool with floaties. Then suddenly the floaties are taken away and the child is excepted to be able to swim without them. Not only are these tests discouraging to students with disabilities, but their results can significantly misrepresent the test results of the whole school, putting the school at risk for being labeled as “in need of improvement” school. This can be especially damaging to schools where the special education department is big. Many students with disabilities do not attend their home school, the school the student should attend according to their home address, because there is another school in the district that is better suited for serving students with disabilities. These schools that receive a large amount of students with special needs are out of population with the general population. That is the percentage of students with disabilities in the school population is above ten percent (Cohen). If a school has more than ten percent of its population as special needs students, then their test results are going to be skewed.
NCLB Act focuses on improving the average students’ education while it completely ignores individualized differences. Because students are being tested using standardized tests, teachers are not given much choice in what they can teach. NCLB also mandates that curriculum adopted material must be scientifically based. Many times these such curriculums come with a set plan everyday and locks the teacher into one set method of instruction. Therefore, causing a one-size fits all approach to instructing the students. However, not all students are going to be successful learners with one given curriculum. They will end up failing not because they are not capable but because their needs are not being met. It has been proven in order for teachers to be successful in teaching they meet the diverse needs of their students by using multiple methods of instruction. Yet, NCLB requires use of only scientifically based instruction and places a huge emphasis on testing which confines teaching to a one-size fits all method. Most scientifically based instruction requires that students do the same activities everyday in many cases students become disengaged and bored of the curriculum. It lacks variation in approaches and assignments that would help to keep students engaged and incorporate the learning needs of all learners.
Another big issue with NCLB is the lack of funding. The law placed a lot of demanding mandates, that in order to comply with requirements a increase in spending must occur. However, the federal government has provided little funding and with many educational programs in many states taking cut backs, the reality of states being able to comply with the law completely is unthinkable. Even with the national budget granting more money to education than even before, it is estimated that the federal government is only providing 3%, $44 million out of $1.5 billion, of the funds needed for NCLB (“No Child Left Behind Act”). That leaves 97% of the funding up to the state and local agencies. It is outrageous for the federal government to demand such requires when a large amount of funding is required and none is provided. Many schools are forced to pull funding from struggling programs. On top of the lack of funding, if schools do not comply with NCLB, their federal funding is at risk to be pulled. Once their federal funding is pulled, it will be nearly impossible for the school to come into compliance. This is a catch-22 because school need money in order to comply with NCLB but the school will not receive money unless they are in compliance.
Supporters of NCLB claim that the act makes school accountable to state standards. Schools do need to be held accountable, that is that schools provide a good education for all students. However, establishing what a student has learned off one single test is highly inaccurate. The type of testing NCLB promotes is called high-stakes testing, students’ understanding of a subject is only judged by one standardized test which is usually only multiple choice. Since NCLB was enacted, there has been an overall increase of higher tests scores throughout the United States. However, it is unsure if the increase is due to students receiving a better education or if it is just test taking strategies are being taught. Using these tests are quite convenient when looking at schools and districts as a whole. But they do not accurately depict the achievement of individual students. NCLB asks school and schools districts to hold themselves responsible for making sure that students can take tests, not making sure that the students are receiving a good education.
NCLB is supposed to be the answer to United States failing schools. It talks about making schools accountable for teaching students their grade content standards. However, NCLB has caused more problems than they have fixed. It demands use of high-stakes testing, that causes teachers to teach to the test and teach test-taking methods so they produce high test scores. NCLB also requires the curriculum to be a one-size fits all, that is the teacher is not given much lead way in the methods they can choose to teach. It is also not financially backed by the federal government which puts many schools in a financial crisis. Schools do need to be held accountable, however, NCLB is not the answer to the solution. It has created more problems.
American Electronics Association. “Summary of ‘No Child Left Behind Act’.” Jan. 2002. http://www.aeanet.org/Common/Functions/ (10 March 2006).
Cohen, Libby, and Loraine Spenciner. Assessment of Children and Youth with Special Needs. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc, 2003.
"No Child Left Behind Act." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 29 Mar 2006, 18:07 UTC. 30 Mar 2006, 04:54 http://en.wikipedia.org (10 March 2006).
Rich, Adrienne. “What Does a Women Need to Know?” The Presence of Others. Eds. Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004. 71-76.