No Child Left Behind

The government’s legislative body has made a number of programs aimed to deal with education problems without knowing the impact of these programs to the local needs. Every child and parent is greatly affected with the quality of education being given in public schools. The No Child Left Behind Act (2001), generally acknowledged as NCLB, is a United States federal law signed by President Bush on January 8, 2002 reauthorizing several federal programs endeavoring to advance the performance of American primary and secondary schools through escalating principles of accountability for school districts and states as well as offering parents supplementary flexibility in preferring which schools their children will go to (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). Its main objective is improving the standard of education for all schools in America. The three key provisions of the act are: annual reading and math assessment of students in grades 3 to 8; awareness of parents, teachers, administrators and students regarding the test results, including the quality of the education provided by the school and the qualifications of teachers; and putting or assigning students according to categories such as economic status, sex, and learning ability to determine the school capacity to cope with the needs of learners. (The White House, 2007). NCLB has four important goals: †¢Ã‚   Increase accountability for student performance Each state must have standards in math, reading, and science, annual testing for all students in grades 3-8, and adequate yearly progress (AYP) objectives for all student subgroups. Successful schools will be rewarded; continually failing schools will eventually be restructured. †¢Ã‚   More choices for parents and students Students attending schools identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring must be offered a transfer to a better public school and/or supplemental academic services. †¢Ã‚   Greater flexibility for states, school districts, and schools This pertains mostly to streamlining federal funding, including grants. †¢Ã‚   Putting reading first More money will be available for scientifically based reading instruction programs (phonics) so that all children will read by third grade. Competitive grants are available through the Reading First Initiative and Early Reading First program. Overview and Purpose The USCO or Unsafe School Choice Option (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, section 9532) of 1965, as improved by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, states that each State getting finances under the ESEA should employ and create a state-wide rule obliging that students who are enrolled in a continually unsafe public elementary or secondary school, or learners who happen to be victims of a violent illegal offense while in or on the public school premises that they attend, be permitted to attend a safe public school (Department of Education United States of America, 2004).   Each State in America should write a letter to the Secretary confirming that the State has complied with the requirements, as a condition of obtaining funds from ESEA. Local and school board policy/rules Policy is a very important role of the school board in our education system. Like the city coucils, state legislatures and Congress, school boards created the structure and direction of their schools by implementing policies through the power granted by the state representatives. The Board of Education is dedicated in upholding a secure and drug-free location in all school districts. Policies of school boards have the same power as decrees and ordinances. They set objective, assign authorities and create rules that make school management and authority possible (Canal Winchester Local School District Bylaws & Policies, 2007). Policies and Guidelines of School Boards are checked as it deals with the 2001 No Child Left behind Policy. School Board Policies should include: safety measures at school and while learners are on the way to and from school, suitable and effective school regulations that forbid the illegal custody of weapons, unruly behavior and the illegal distribution, use and possession, and trade of drugs, tobacco and alcohol by students; prevention actions designed to keep the environment safe and drug-free; and a system policy for all students that affirms the tasks of administrators, instructors and students in preserving a safe classroom environment (Canal Winchester Local School District Bylaws & Policies, 2007). NCLB is the most recent federal legislation ratifying theories of standards-based schooling restructuring, previously acknowledged as outcome-based education that is derived from the principle that high prospect and setting of objectives will bring about achievement for students (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). The act requires that schools allocate the name, address and home phone number of all students enrolled to armed forces recruiters. The district will use the school choice option as one response to incidents of victimization.   Additionally, the district will develop and implement appropriate strategies for addressing the circumstances that contribute to or support victimization, as well as consistently and proactively manage individuals who have victimized pupils.   The district will promote the importance of school safety and respond to the needs of pupils and staff.   Pursuant to the law, the district will provide an opportunity for pupils, parents and school district and law enforcement personnel to discuss methods for keeping schools safe from violence; to create school safety plans; and to recognize pupils in need of help. The district will organize activities to prevent school violence, including, but not limited to, age-appropriate opportunities for pupil discussion on conflict resolution, issues of pupil diversity and tolerance.   Law enforcement personnel will be invited to join members of the teaching staff in the discussions.   Programs shall also be provided for school district employees that are designated to help school district employees recognize warning signs of school violence and to instruct school district employees on recommended conduct during an incident of school violence. Each State Educational Agency or SEA must increase objective standards to apply in classifying persistently dangerous schools, which are merely not influenced by assumption, emotion, and impartiality.   Such standards should include areas that parents would consider in deciding on a level of safety for the school, and the number of violent offenses. Objective information that could be used as objective criteria consist of records that detail the number of recommendation to law enforcement group for carrying a firearm to school, physical fights or presence of gang on school premises. On the contrary, subjective data might consist of information gathered in a focus faction concerning community-wide view of safety. The gathered objective data that aid each State to identify persistently dangerous schools will have to be attributable to individual school locations and must be both reliable and convincing (Department of Education United States of America, 2004). The objective of the statute is to avoid unnecessary hindrance to student’s learning and to promote a better safety and security for the children. Elementary teachers have to pass state tests indicative of their subject familiarity and teaching proficiency in writing, reading/language arts, mathematics and further subjects of basic elementary school syllabus.   The teachers of middle grades and high school have to pass state examinations in all academic subject categories they teach, along with an undergraduate major, graduate degree, coursework corresponding to undergraduate major or higher qualifications. Teachers are not new to the occupation must have a bachelor’s degree and should pass state test indicating teaching skills and subject knowledge. These credentials have caused some dispute and complexity in implementation particularly for the special education teachers and teachers in rural schools who are commonly requested to instruct various subjects and grade levels (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). Schools acknowledged as needing enhancement are requisite to give students with possibility to make use of public school selection no later than the start of school year following their credentials for school enhancement. NCLB sanctioned (and Congress has consequently appropriated) a considerable boost in financial support for Title I aid, to give subsidy for school districts to put the law’s parental option requirements into practice. Advocates of the Act state the legislation offers parents better educational options for their children, supports accountability within public schools, and helps close the accomplishment gap between white students as well as the minority. The NCLB aims to demonstrate achievement en route for these goals through federally directive standardized assessment therefore, this Act should extend to levels of learning (The White House, 2007). Opinios and Views In summary, I support No Child Left Behind because it gives importance on methods and instruction that have been confirmed to work. Making billion-dollar investments yearly, this policy ensures children on their third grade, learn how to read. Since the law’s reaction if the school fails to make sufficient development is not simply to offer further aid for students, but to entail as well disciplinary measures on the school, the encouragements are to place expectations lesser than higher and to augment separation by race and class and thrust low-performing learners out of school in general. References Canal Winchester Local School District Bylaws & Policies (2007). School Safety. Retrieved August 31, 2007, from http://www.neola.com/canalwinchester-oh/search/policies/po8400.htm Department of Education United States of America (2004). Unsafe School Choice Option. Retrieved July 18, 2007, from http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/unsafeschoolchoice.doc NCELA (2006). Montana and No Child Left Behind. Retrieved July 18, 2007, from http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/policy/states/montana/04_nclb.htm The White House (2007).  Ã‚  Ã‚   Foreword by President George W. Bush. Retrieved July 18, 2007, From http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/reports/1 U.S. Department of Education (2003). No Child Left Behind A Parent’s Guide. Retrieved July 18 2007, from http://www.ed.gov/parents/academic/involve/nclbguide/parentsguide.pdf    No Child Left Behind The school has failed the â€Å"No Child Left Behind† requirements for the past 2 years. In order to change the situation, the strategy of appreciative inquiry was implemented. Owing to this step, all of the school’s employees got a new vision of what cultural activities children really need. The concentration of past successful experiences instead of problems was very useful to achieve present success. Since the school has failed the â€Å"No Child Left Behind† requirements for the past 2 years, it requires an efficient change strategy in order to achieve positive results in future. The strategy of the appreciative inquiry is the most efficient in culture change in the public school. The strategy consists in making investigations of all the cultural activities which have been successful in this school during the last couple of years, identifying their positive influence on children, and looking for ways to repeat the previous success through the series of new cultural activities. The strategy of appreciative inquiry is the only strategy which would be efficient in such a case. Traditional change management activities are not going to help because they focus on the problem. In order to make a radical culture change in this school, it’s necessary not to focus on the problem but to investigate pervious positive experience in order to inspire the members of the team. The strategy of appreciative inquiry is applicable in this case because it â€Å"takes a different approach by focusing on what works in an organization and creating a series of statements that describe where the organization wants to be, based on the high points of where they have been. Because these statements are grounded in real experience, people know how to repeat the success and thus have a greater energy to make more moments of success than when presented with a nebulous vision of the future.† (Geof Cox, 1998, p.1) In order to achieve maximum success, the team has include school teachers of all levels, school’s principal. The project has to begin with making all of the teachers in the team remember all kinds of cultural events which took place at school and were enjoyed by students. During this meeting, all of the children’s needs have to be identified through the prism of the results of previous activities which they were engaged in. In the research process the following activities would be identified as the most interesting for children: acting in plays, participating in poetry and music contests, taking part in sports competitions. All of these activities had a great success among kids in the previous years, therefore the success of them in future can be predicted easily. f) The intervention of the new vision would have to last for about 2 months during which all of the mentioned activities had to take place. Many teachers were involved in the process of preparing the activities for children, and their current vision would adapt to the new one in the period of around 2 months. g) The results of appreciative inquiry strategy could be seen in the next half a year because all the teachers got a new vision of their role in the school- not only as people who have to bring knowledge to kids about different subjects, but also as leaders of different cultural activities in which kids could apply all of their talents and abilities. The chosen strategy has turned out very successful, and brought positive results. The strategy of appreciative inquiry is very efficient in such a case because â€Å"by focusing on the successful examples in the past and present, we build a picture of the themes and ideas that we know we can do, and that work. We develop an individual and collective mindset of what we are capable of that is grounded in reality.† (Geof Cox, 1998, p.2) The main implications which could occur in the strategy implementation consist in some teachers’ resistance to change and their little desire to participate in the change process. However, by making them realize the positive influence of the strategy on the cultural life at school, this resistance could be brought to the minimum. The strategy of appreciative inquiry has turned out very efficient in making the school fit into the requirements of the â€Å"No Child Left Behind† vision because owing to it, all of the school’s employees got a new vision of what cultural activities children really need. The concentration of past successful experiences instead of problems was very useful to achieve present success.                                              Bibliography. Geof Cox. Appreciative inquiry. Edinburgh, Scotland., 1998. www.aradford.co.uk