Bibliography

Bibliography
Lee, Jaekyung. 2008. Is Test-Driven External Accountability Effective? Synthesizing
the Evidence From Cross-State Causal-Comparative and Correlational Studies. New York: Review of Educational Research.
Leon-Guerrero, Ana. 2009. Social Problems. Los Angeles, California: Pine Forge
Press.
McNeil, Linda McSpadden. 2005. Leaving Children Behind: How “Texas Style”
Accountability Fails Latino Youth. New York: State University of New York
Press.
United States Department of Education. 2004. "Four Pillars” of NCLB." Washington,
DC: US Department of Education, Retrieved April 20, 2009.
http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml?src=a
b

Solutions

What can you do as policy makers, school officials, and parents? We can all start with developing new ideas to reform NCLB. For example,

Students would benefit from a program with specific tests for each school district. If this is not feasible, then the Act should include other aspects of education into Adequate Yearly Progress. This way, students would not have to be taught to a test and they would probably increase test scores because the tests would incorporate material from their every day curriculum.

Another solution would be to provide more resources more easily and perhaps more frequently than the federal government does now. It seems that some schools that get their resources taken away do not have very many resources to begin with. Therefore, I think that more programs like the “I Have a Dream Foundation” should be implemented. This program works to ensure that all students have a feasible path to higher education. It targets a specific grade level of elementary schools in low income communities and helps provide them with the “skills, knowledge, and habits” to succeed. The program also targets all aspects of the children’s lives—school, home, social environment, etc—to help them develop. Programs like this give students the proper resources to learn and to achieve greatness.

Current Policy on NCLB

In my last post, I mentioned the issues that are presented by NCLB. It might also be helpful to know the current political opinion and the past political opinion on the Act. When NCLB was enacted in 2001, President Bush believed that the bill would help to increase the literacy rates and reading level of students, and better the math skills of students in the US as well. He wanted students to succeed. He videos posted below describe Bush’s opinions about the plan in greater detail.

Here is a video link of President Bush discussing NCLB:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=invKzk3vaRI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpcG8QRNWHU&NR=1


On the other hand, President Obama’s views on the program are quite different. He believes that the US government needs to reform NCLB. Here is a list of the policy changes that the President plans on making:
1. He would like to be able to increase funding for the law.
2. He also believes that teachers should not be under so much pressure to elicit progress from students on one certain test. This is because it creates resentment of the government, policy makers, and school systems by the teachers. He plans on allowing teachers to return to a more creative and diversified curriculum.
3. Schools that are improving in general should be rewarded with more resources. He believes that schools shouldn’t be punished because one grade did not meet AYP if the rest of the school, in addition to the students in that grade, is improving. He also wants to support schools that need improvement instead of punishing them.

Check out these video links of President Obama talking about reforming NCLB:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0L2GEBhd2w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsVimwm6xQ4

Here are some other interesting video clips about NCLB:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSTzLILQx3c

In this video, different kids talk about their future and if they will be ready for what the future presents. NCLB hinders them from experiencing important life experiences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kra_z9vMnHo

The Social Problems Presented by NCLB

So you may be asking yourself, how can we be sure that the hindrance of progress of students is actually a problem? Well, there are numerous issues that NCLB creates which ultimately lead to the main problem of this lack of progression by students. I will discuss these issues later in the post but first, I want to put NCLB into context by introducing you to the school systems in the state of Texas. The state’s statewide test is called the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test and has actually become the measure for academic success in the United States. In other words, NCLB was modeled after one state’s test, TAAS. According to Linda McNeil, schools are rated by the state on the test scores of their students. Through a hierarchical model, each level is held accountable to the level above it. She explains that there is little to no variation of the rules at the top and that schools cannot opt out of this standardized testing system if their methods are different (59). This is problematic because no other school programs factor into the rating system except for test scores. Other issues created by this type of testing include:

1. Accountability: Are the right people being held accountable for the right reasons?

2. Lack of Resources: As a result of the accountability measures, the test takes away resources from schools that do not meet the standards that the test requires.

3. No Differentiation of Schools: The TAAS and NCLB hold every school and every student to the same standards. For example, the test makers assume that each student starts at the same reading level. This assumption is incorrect but all students are still expected to achieve the same range of test scores.

4. Education Gap: Although test scores of different racial and ethnic groups may be increasing, the gap between the scores of whites and minorities is not decreasing.

5. Dropouts: The rate of high school dropouts in Texas has increased since the implementation of TAAS (McNeil 74).

Questions: These are a few questions that popped in my head while I was investigating this problem. You may want to ponder these questions and think about ways to improve NCLB.

How can it be that the entire country’s education policy (NCLB) is modeled after that of one state? Especially because the TAAS test was not very successful.

Why aren’t other aspects of education (sports, arts programs, unqualified teachers, etc) factored into these accountability measures?

No Child Left Behind Introduction

The No Child Left Behind Act was implemented in 2001 and will be the main topic of discussion in this project. According to the US Department of Education, the main objective of the No Child Left Behind Act is to achieve “stronger accountability for results, more freedom for states and communities, proven education methods, and more choices for parents” (Department of Education). Overall, the bill is supposed to “build the mind and character of every child, from every background in every part of America” Department of Education). While No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a good idea in theory, it actually accomplishes the opposite of its goal. The Act uses the same standardized test as a measure of intelligence and progress across the United States. As a result of its “one size fit’s all” accountability measures, all schools and districts are expected to achieve progress based on the same standards (Leon-Guerrero 194). The problem that this presents is that it hinders the development of students both academically and socially because

1. Every student across the United States is presumed to be on the same academic level.

2. Schools and students get penalized if they do not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)¹.

3. Students are taught to a test instead of learning other important subjects, material, and social and life skills.

I would like to investigate this problem using the conflict perspective. This perspective is used to consider how society is held together by power and coercion. Also according to conflict theorists, social problems are the result of conflicts between groups in our society “based on class, gender, race, or ethnicity (Leon-Guerrero 14). I would like to utilize this perspective because I do think that No Child Left Behind creates and perpetuates inequalities between students based on race and class.

As a secondary perspective, I will also use the interactionist perspective in this investigation. Interactionist theorists focus on the expectations, rules, and norms that we learn and practice without even noticing. They also believe that social problems are created through interaction (Leon-Guerrero 15). Regarding education and NCLB, the way that students interact in the classroom, with tests, and with teachers, affects their access to education. Most schools “track” their students meaning that “advanced” learners are separated from “regular” learners. This leads to unequal learning opportunities in students. It also plants the idea in their heads that they are inadequate and may not be able to reach the level of their “advanced” classmates.

Lastly, I am targeting three main groups: education policy makers, school officials and educators, and parents. This is because these groups are the most affected by the issues that NCLB presents.

For more information about No Child Left Behind, visit the US Department of Education website at: http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml?src=a

Also, here’s a link to the “Four Pillars” of NCLB:

http://www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/4pillars.html

¹Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is the measure that the US Department of Education uses to measure the progress of students based on standardized tests. AYP is supposed to highlight where and which schools need help with progression.