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No Child Left Behind Act
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) of 2001-2002 is a bill that was signed into effect in January 2002 by the former President of the United States of AmericaGeorge W. Bush. The Act was supposed to bring about a positive effect that was going to transform the countrys education system into the best system on a worldwide scale. However, once the bill had been passed, the act seemed to steer up more controversy than help the nation. This essay will review the NCLBA, the achievements, setbacks as well as the impact on the education system.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 did not meet its potential nor real goal. It did not manage to improve the quality of education in the United States. According to (ED.gov: SEC.1001.Statement of Purpose, 2004), the purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments. And this is exactly what made the bill ineffective. It is meant to be a great statement and that is all. When it comes to the execution of this Act, it heavily impacts on the education system. The Act might as well have taken the teachers back to College and taught them how to teach efficiently under the proposal of the Act.
When the Congress reviewed and signed the bill, they chose to look at the positives which appeared big and right but they did not look at the bigger picture. The Act is a very good and tantalizing initiative; but only on paper. In the practical aspect of things, it does not make sense and only manages to put pressure on the brains on students and teachers. In a bid to raise the pass mark and meet the set standard, the curriculum is not fully followed.
For an education institution to receive funding the scores must show Annual Yearly Progress (AYP), As a result the schools put most of their efforts in math, reading and science because the tests only cover these 3 subjects. As a result, the other subjects are neglected because the do not count. This means that the children do not get to receive a full education as initially intended but rather part of the package. Since this is a race against time, money and the government, the teachers end up opting for more and more of the alternative to practical and the science subject is killed. As a result, the students learn the theory aspect of the subject in order to pass the tests and meet the AYP, yet they may not have the knowhow to do practical aspect.
Some carriers are killed because all subjects are important for each respective carrier. There is a chance that even though there is improvement, the school might not meet AYP. When this happens, the funding is reduced and this puts pressure to the whole school system. It would make sense to increase the fund so that more resources are acquired in order to upgrade.
To highlight the issue, it makes sense to ask the questions; what has the bill achieved to date, have the grades improved since the bill was passed? This question can only be answered by the year 2015 since the first group to graduate since the bill was passed is the 2012 group. To compare the grades, at least 5 groups have to finish and they can be compared to results from previous years. As it stands, the law is the first of its kind not only in America but globally. It therefore has nothing to weigh it up against.
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Perhaps the gravest mistake that the Constitute overlooked was providing a case study and a control for this Act before it was introduced to the system. The system was supposed to be tested on other states of the country before being spread out to the country all at once; there was no changeover but a complete turnover overnight. As it stands, the system makes students feel pressured to cram material into their brains only for a short period in order to pass the tests but they are not learning to gain knowledge. (Hirani, 2009) In all essence, the Act has managed to do what it was not supposed to do, it has actually left more children behind because even though everyone has their different means of learning, cramming is not a skill that most have.
Despite all the negatives and different responses that the NCLBA has flurried, it has managed to put into the system everyone including children with autism and other disabilities (Wright, 2004). The bill does not specify how to treat children with special needs, it incorporates everyone and under the umbrella term success everyone strives to abide by it and is not left out.
The bill would have been the best system that any education system ever developed had it been introduced gradually after being tested and improved on. Some may argue that the teaching system should have been phased out alongside the bill. The teachers who currently run the classroom are under scrutiny for failing to bring about the expected outcome yet in all earnestness the system that trained them did not include the bill and the demands in it. The act was poorly implemented and does not have enough funds to propel is to greater heights. If this is looked into in great detail maybe the U.S might turn the effects of the bill around.
America is the mother of civilization and should lead by example. That being said, it is proper to point out that the country needs a better system than the NCLBA. Education is a process, it is there everywhere every day and the act should learn how to incorporate every child because clearly the slow learners are being left behind.
