It is something that is often the subject of joking in political cartoons. It is an issue that has been raised in the current presidential race. Back in November, U.S. News & World Report published an article, “Room to improve“, discussing the overall contributions that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy has resulted in providing schools and students over the past five years of its existence. Focusing on reauthorization of the program, it depicts instances and situations that are not showing the improvements that the program once preached its goal was. It discusses how schools from low socioeconomic areas are continually not progressing to reach its set objective goals. With financial aid slowly relocating to these schools a positive change is not, in many cases, the direct result. Is it fair to say that NCLB is adequately supplying these schools with enough money and monitoring to succeed?
Another major part of the article reflected the outcomes of students with English being their second language and how the NCLB program is not helping them, but hurting them more than ever. The students are not able to keep up with the rigors of the curriculum for the mandated standardized tests and are constantly struggling in math and English classes. Five million ESL students make up approximately 10 percent of all students in the nation. Is it fair that they are held to the same level of math and English to students who were born, raised, and learned English in the household? Should we provide alternative levels for these students to achieve? Is NCLB working for these students?
Standardized tests are in some districts the life and death of an untenured teacher. In a Nassau County school district that I work for, the standardized test scores are the main thing that determines your success as a teacher. Teachers have had their tenure recommendations revoked because of the test scores. It has gone so far as to one person being granted tenure in May and having that tenure rescinded in July because their students’ test scores were not high enough. The district that I am describing is not by any means a top school district, but an average district, with an average student body. The administration of this district has told untenured teachers that 70 % of the students should be at mastery level (grades of 85% or higher), with a clear minimum of 50% mastery.
A similar tale can be told of many districts within the country. A district can be deemed poor and the teachers thought of as failures when many other factors play into the success of the students. If a student is coming from a home where there is not enough food to eat, not enough money to pay bills, or perhaps to even live in a home, how is a teacher supposed to help that child to excel in school? NCLB disregards problems that are occurring within the nation and uses the school system as a scapegoat. Teachers and administrators cannot be held accountable for factors in the lives of students that may hinder their education. Furthermore, teachers should not be held accountable for students who simply refuse to do their work. It is nice to pretend that it is possible to motivate every student to work their hardest and do their best. However, there are some students who just refuse to do so. Once they are failing, NCLB then asks the teacher and the school why they did not do more for that child.
There are probably points to NCLB that are solid and that would help with education. Perhaps something that should be done is one universal, country-wise test that is give to all students that are in the same grade. This will ensure that the education a student is getting in Alabama is the same of a student in New York. In order for this to work, there should be national standards for teaching. Each state should not operate under their own guidelines if all states are going to be under a program like NCLB. The only way for this program to work is for everyone taking part in it to be on a level playing field. Then maybe NCLB stands a chance.
6 responses so far ↓
dnice78 // March 17, 2008 at 7:16 pm |
In my opinion, NCLB was put in place to make sure certain students were not being discriminated against. I think it has been completely taken out of context and used for the wrong things. There is no way that a teacher should be considered a failure or should not be granted tenure based on the performance of their students. It is true that all students may not be able to be motivated at the same time. I agree that ESL students may struggle more and need more time to come up to standard. I also agree that we should have national standards. I still am unsure of what I believe in terms of standard testing.
ellieboyle // March 19, 2008 at 9:39 pm |
No child left behind is not working. High expectations do not necessarily lead to higher test scores. NCLB is so superficial its infuriating. It fails to address the real issues. Students who come from low socioeconomic areas where their basic human needs are not being met should not be expected to perform like “everyone” else. Money should be given to these schools and maybe then we can make things more equal. We should institute a system that looks deeper in to the problems of our educational system and then finds solutions. Punishment definately is not the answer.
paulschropfer2 // March 20, 2008 at 2:21 am |
There is now way that NCLB is working. We can not expect students who live in bad situations like low economics, bad housing and bad family life to perform in school with kids who do not have any issues like this. There should be a new and better program that makes a level playing field. In theory NCLB sounded good at first but after five years we see that its just NOT WORKING. The schools where the kids do have those problems should be funded to help educate these kids as best as we can. If this does not occur we will just stay in the same rut that these low economic schools are currently in.
jamie941 // March 22, 2008 at 6:43 pm |
I agree that the NCLB act is not working. As said in the blog, teachers cannot be responsible for the life of the student outside of school. Truthfully, I have an issue with the students who are pretty much ignored because they excel in school. In a sense, they are the ones now being left behind. I work in a pretty affluent and competetive area where the school district is very highly ranked. It is the norm for students in that district to begin receivng high priced tutoring in elementary school. With this as a reality, low income areas will never be able to compete.
footballcoach84 // April 5, 2008 at 10:54 pm |
I hate NCLB and what it has done to our students and our schools. I have been opposed to standardized tests that are supposed to determine your place in life ever since I took the SAT. One test should not and can not tell the intellengence or capabilities of a student and as someone mentioned before there are many other factors that can contribute to a students inability to succeed. I feel too much fault is placed on the teacher in this case. True it is a teachers job to make sure that the student reaches their maximum potential but it is also the parents responsibility to encourage and support the teacher and the school. The government should help poorer school district, not force them to take tests that they know that they cant do well on. We like to point fingers in this country, instead of working together to resolve problems. NCLB needs to be redone or removed!!!!
paulina1103 // September 25, 2009 at 9:47 pm |
After reading this article I have several questions that ran through my mind. First of all I feel that NCLB was placed for a good cause but it failed to concentrate on students from different background. As NCLB fight for children receiving equal education we cannot expect student for example from low socioeconomic areas and students with language barriers to add up to the standards. For example as a teacher if I receive a student from a country other than US who speaking no English and is put in 11th grade there is no way that within that time frame I am able to prepare that student for standardized tests. So what does that make me as a teacher? It looks back because I did not reach my goal as a teacher but yet there was no time that was considered. So, my point is we cannot assume that if students are not passing the standardized test that the teacher is not doing their job, in fact we have to look at a wider picture and factors that play a role. In the end, I agree with the comment above that NCLB needs to address issues and needs revision.
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