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Unit 2 A Definition Essay Individual Project
Anita L. Greenway
American InterContinental University
Instructor: David Taylor
May 9, 2010
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Abstract
Recent changes have been implemented to the No Child Left Behind Act to improve the original
fallacies that were present and take public schools to a new level. The first change of holding
schools accountable for helping the students to make good grades has been beneficial because
this in turn greatly increases graduation rates. The second change of giving consequences for
schools that don’t meet the set standards greatly motivates teachers, administrators, and students
to do so much better in order to keep privileges such as well funded sports programs. Thirdly the
change of adjusting the ranking scale for schools and mainly including the significant subjects
such as math and reading give a true idea of how schools are doing and if they need to be
improved. These three changes have superbly improved the No Child Left Behind Act as it helps
children and young adults to be more successful in their education.
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Definition Essay
Some parents may have the notion that low quality public schooling is a problem that is
only prevalent in poorer school districts but this is not true. There are only twelve states where at
least fifty percent of eight graders from middle class families meet the requirements set by
educators in mathematics. On an even more unfortunate note, in only three states are there at
least fifty percent of eighth graders from households making more than forty thousand dollars
yearly meeting the set requirements in English. Due to the positive changes implemented in the
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act schools have progressed exponentially to improve the scores
of their parents.
Firstly, education secretary Arne Duncan pressed thousands of low performing schools in
middle class areas to improve by introducing changes to the controversial NCLB law. This
particular change holds schools accountable for test scores and graduation rates. While Duncan
proposed tough consequences for failing schools which were often the poorest, he left plenty
room for ‘fairly failing schools’. These fairly failing schools are schools that are also not
reaching the academic requirements but are being ignored because other schools are doing much
worse. “At this point it is only significant that we as administrators of education address only the
school systems that are horribly failing” (Arne Duncan). Thus the change done to the NCLB act
is to make the actual schools and teachers responsible for the success of their students but this
concentrates almost completely on the worst school systems.
Another problem that was a part of the original NCLB act was that there were very little
consequences for schools making a C or lower on their ranking which is unacceptable. An
example is the Bush-era loophole under which almost any school with low performance could
escape being closed down or having its teachers and administrators replaced. Tough
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consequences originally only applied to ten percent of schools with the lowest scores and lowest
graduation rates. The remaining low performance schools only face consequences for a small
amount of mishaps such as having large gaps in grades between minority students and white
students. The second change applied to improve the NCLB act is making those in charge at the
school pay the price for allowing the students to descend to such low levels in their education.
One example of a consequence is reducing funds provided by the state to fund their much loved
extracurricular activities. Such activities are generally a great pride to the school such as football
which pushes the students and administrators to do better in order to gain back the funds to do
entertaining things.
Another problem that existed within the NCLB act was the fact that schools tried to mask
their poor scores in reading and math by including the assessments of other subject that are much
simpler and not as necessary to a child’s education. Such subjects are art and physical education
which are simple and fun but not what the school should be concentrating on. These subjects do
not guarantee that children will be prepared to enter prestigious universities and continue on to
lead comfortable lives in well paying jobs. Though this might seem to be an opening to other
ideas it raises the risk that districts will be able to camouflage their schools’ poor performance in
essential subjects such as math and reading. The third change implemented to the NCLB act was
to make a more strict and specific ranking scale for the grades received by kids in schools. The
new ranking scale concentrates on these math and reading scores while giving a small portion of
consideration to subjects that are more directed to having leisure time while in class.
In conclusion these changes to the No Child Left Behind Act will significantly strengthen
accountability of all schools, not just the schools that are on the bottom. In the year 2000 before
the No Child Left Behind act, no state could report that fifty percent of middle school students
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were proficient in math. “Now in 2010 twelve states boast that their eighth grade students meet
the requirements set in mathematics” (United States Department of Education). Duncan’s focus
on weak schools in middle class areas is welcomed by educators and very important because it
also apply to poor school districts and minorities. The changes implemented by Duncan and
other NCLB workers have been extremely beneficial to whom it serves. Other changes still have
to go through Capitol Hill and be accepted by each individual state.
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References
USA Today (Serial online). Available from: MasterFile Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 3,
2010.
United States Department of Education. (2010). Retrieved: May 4, 2010
http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml