Every person who has been through schooling can think of a teacher who made a positive, life changing impact on them who allowed his/her students to think creatively, openly, clearly, and driven. On the flip side of this, we can all think of that one teacher we couldn’t learn a thing from who was dull, uncaring, cut and dry, and impassive. Flash back to a time during your childhood and think of the best/worst teachers you ever had. What qualities did your teachers possess or lack that made them good or bad? Did their methodology of teaching play a role? Try to think deeper into why both teachers made the impact they did on you and the other students. For the purpose of this argument, I am going to refer to the good teacher as “Rose” and the
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Johnson’s “Elementary and Secondary Education” Act (1965), which was very similar to NCLB except with less federal control over education. The State of Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s website summarizes NCLB by saying “Under the 2002 law, states are required to test students in reading and math in grades 3–8 and once in high school. All students are expected to meet or exceed state standards in reading and math by 2014. The major focus of No Child Left Behind is to close student achievement gaps by providing all children with a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education…NCLB requires each state to establish state academic standards and a state testing system that meet federal requirements. This accountability requirement is called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).” To summarize, the ideas of No Child Left Behind have good intentions and look good on paper, but result in the following: a narrow curriculum in schools (emphasis on math and science with a lack of emphasis on language arts, physical education, and music), and disabling young learners from thinking creatively and learning proficiencies that will last a lifetime. Not to mention a whole lot of guidelines put in place by the federal government which are not backed by enough funding and resources allocated to the teachers themselves to put forth into teaching to this …show more content…
It was a failure to our educational system, K-12th grade teachers, and the students who have had to endure this failed structure of education. NCLB has forced teachers to dedicate extra time in the classroom to core subjects, to spend more time searching for better instructional strategies in order to “teach to the test” (Dee & Jacob, 2010; Reback, Rockoff, & Schwartz, 2011). Not until recently has Congress made a change to the long over-due expiration of the NCLB Act. The “Every Student Succeeds Act”, also known as “ESSA”, was signed into law in late December of 3015. The act says that states will be able to decide for themselves what type of accountability systems work best, as well as their own method for evaluating their teachers and “will decide for themselves how to fix failing schools and close achievement gaps” (Education Week 2016). This is a great starting point to allow students to get a more customized learning experience. However, it is too soon to tell how the newly elected president Donald Trump will put this new legislation into place. In the future, if we don’t stray away from educational structures that are federally organized and are a “one size fits all” approach, students and teachers will continue to lose the motivation to learn and teach. The United States of America needs more students eager to learn who think creatively, who are problem solvers, and who have the necessary skills to make a
Johnson’s “Elementary and Secondary Education” Act (1965), which was very similar to NCLB except with less federal control over education. The State of Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s website summarizes NCLB by saying “Under the 2002 law, states are required to test students in reading and math in grades 3–8 and once in high school. All students are expected to meet or exceed state standards in reading and math by 2014. The major focus of No Child Left Behind is to close student achievement gaps by providing all children with a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education…NCLB requires each state to establish state academic standards and a state testing system that meet federal requirements. This accountability requirement is called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).” To summarize, the ideas of No Child Left Behind have good intentions and look good on paper, but result in the following: a narrow curriculum in schools (emphasis on math and science with a lack of emphasis on language arts, physical education, and music), and disabling young learners from thinking creatively and learning proficiencies that will last a lifetime. Not to mention a whole lot of guidelines put in place by the federal government which are not backed by enough funding and resources allocated to the teachers themselves to put forth into teaching to this …show more content…
It was a failure to our educational system, K-12th grade teachers, and the students who have had to endure this failed structure of education. NCLB has forced teachers to dedicate extra time in the classroom to core subjects, to spend more time searching for better instructional strategies in order to “teach to the test” (Dee & Jacob, 2010; Reback, Rockoff, & Schwartz, 2011). Not until recently has Congress made a change to the long over-due expiration of the NCLB Act. The “Every Student Succeeds Act”, also known as “ESSA”, was signed into law in late December of 3015. The act says that states will be able to decide for themselves what type of accountability systems work best, as well as their own method for evaluating their teachers and “will decide for themselves how to fix failing schools and close achievement gaps” (Education Week 2016). This is a great starting point to allow students to get a more customized learning experience. However, it is too soon to tell how the newly elected president Donald Trump will put this new legislation into place. In the future, if we don’t stray away from educational structures that are federally organized and are a “one size fits all” approach, students and teachers will continue to lose the motivation to learn and teach. The United States of America needs more students eager to learn who think creatively, who are problem solvers, and who have the necessary skills to make a