No Child Left Behind

1. No Child Left Behind By: Emily Farrell, Sara Pulgrano, Victoria Baginski, and Gina Desplantes

2. George W. Bush on NCLB George W. Bush

3. Overview of No Child Left Behind • Provides public school choice and services for students in failing schools as early as the fall of 2002. • Integrate scientifically based reading research into comprehension instruction. • Establish and monitor adequate yearly progress (AYP), based on the 2001-2002 data. • Issue report cards annually based on school performance as well as statewide test results by the 2002-2003 school year. • Implement standards-based assessments annually in reading and math for grades 3-8 by 2005-2006. • Ensure that all classes are instructed by a qualified teacher by 2005-2006.

4. Positives of NCLB • Standards are set and measured annually by each state. • Standards are set for teacher qualifications. • Emphasizes reading, writing and math. • Parents are provided with a detailed report of student achievement, and explanations are provided of achievement levels.

5. Positives of NCLB(cont.) • Links state academic content with student educational outcomes, and requires the use of "scientific-based research" methods to improve schooling. • Measures educational status and growth by ethnicity, and helps to close the achievement gap between white and minority students. • Requires schools to focus on providing quality education to all students including children with disabilities, from low-income families, ELL, African-Americans and Latinos.

6. No Child Left Behind Act Pitfalls • Teaching towards the test • Lack of test reliability • High stakes consequences- AYP • Focus on mainly middle achieving students

7. Teaching Towards the Test • Subject areas not tested through NCLB are being ignored in schools • Brown University study found that from 1999-2004 reading instruction gained 40 min/week while Science lost 23 min and Social Studies lost 17 min • Arizona Desert Elementary spends 3 hours on reading and 1 ½ hours on math in their 6 ½ hour school day • This once failing school reached annual yearly progress (AYP) and received special distinction from Arizona

8. Teaching Towards the Test • Critical thinking skills and knowledge application are not addressed through the testing of NCLB • “Deeper understanding, subtlety of thought, creativity, critical thinking, perseverance, leadership and sensibility about self and the world cannot be measured by multiple-choice technology.” • Harold Berlak, educationanddemocracy.org

9. Lack of Test Reliability • A single test is not an accurate indicator of a student’s proficiency in any subject • “Accurate measurement requires multiple retesting.” - Richard Rothstein, The American Prospect • States set their own standards and create their own tests, creating inaccurate national standards • In 2005 89% of Mississippi 4th graders tested proficient in reading based on state standards, but only 18% tested proficient based on NAEP standards

10. High Stakes Testing • The No Child Left Behind Act looks only at benchmarks rather than progress • Bud Carson Middle School in Hawthorn, California met 20 out of 21 of its AYP goals in 2005 • Raised scores for Hispanics, African Americans, and special ed. students, closed achievement gaps and raised attendance • Remained on the “needs improvement” list

11. Focus Mainly on Middle Achieving Students • In order to make AYP schools zero-in on students on the cusp of proficiency • Curriculum does not challenge high achieving students and tends to ignore below average students that schools don’t feel will pass • Middle achieving students, referred to as “bubble kids,” are the target audience of teachers receiving extra test-prep services

12. Improvements • Good idea gone wrong • NCLB aimed to address the issue of accountability -> resulted in the interest to develop more responsibility on the student’s behalf • Teacher accountability • “Lemon Dance”(The system has to be designed not just to show how much children have improved, but also to provide guidance so that ineffective teachers get better or be replaced.)

13. Plan for Revision • Purpose of the act – raising student achievement – should remain the same • Obama administration indicated in 2009 that the rewriting of the law would focus on teacher quality, academic standards, and more attention given to help failing schools and students • Plan gives states that agree to several reforms — including stringent teacher evaluation systems and new programs for overhauling the worst schools — an exemption from many of the law’s requirements. • change the way they evaluate most schools allowing indicators other than just reading and math scores to be considered • would lift the law’s provision that all students be proficient in math and reading by 2014

14. Repairing the Pitfalls • It would allow schools to be rated partly on achievement-growth measures — how much students improve on reading and math — instead of just on the percentage of students who reach “proficiency” on those tests. • The current system has led to the ignorance of those students who perform very highly and those who perform very poorly to focus on pushing up students who fall just short of the proficiency mark. • Obama’s Race to the Top

15. President Barack Obama on NCLB President Obama

16. References • White, Deborah (n.d.). No Child Left Behind Act Pros, Cons - Pros and Cons of No Child Left Behind Act. Liberal & Progressive Politics & Perspectives. Retrieved February 9, 2012, from http://usliberals.about.com/od/education/ • Improving No Child Left Behind - NYTimes.com. (n.d.). The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/opinion/improving-no-child-left-behind.html • Leaving "No Child Left Behind" Behind. (n.d.). The American Prospect. Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://prospect.org/article/leaving-no-child-left-behind-behind • No Child Left Behind: Doomed to Fail? - TIME. (n.d.). Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://www.time.com/time/nation/artic • Wortham, S. C. (2008). Assessment in early childhood education (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall. • Waiting for Superman.