The No Child Left Behind Act
By: Carroll Zentz

Abstract The No Child Left behind Act is a law that was formulated by George W. Bush within one week of being in office in 2001. A few months later the law passed in January of 2002. The reason the No Child Left behind Act was enacted was to better the education for the children of America. The No Child Left behind Act is a very controversial topic, due to the lack of funding provided by the government, and how teachers get laid off for not being deemed �highly qualified� teachers. However, statistics have indicated that the No Child Left behind Act has helped to make an improvement in the education for the youth of America.

No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left behind (NCLB) Act is now a United States federal law that was created to improve the public school system. This is the first amendment that has been made since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. President George W. Bush felt that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was inadequate. So he devised his own way to try and improve it, thus creating the No Child Left behind Act. Another reason George W. Bush created the No Child Left behind Act is because he was noticing that the achievement gap between minority students and white students was growing. The No Child Left behind Act has many theories that should equal perfection according to President Bush. Some of these theories entail all students being proficient by the 2013-2014 school years. Another theory of the NCLB Act is to raise the achievement levels of minorities and subgroup students such as African Americans, Latinos, low-income students, and special education students to a level of proficiency agreed upon by each state. (U.S. Department of Education, 2004)
The No Child Left behind Act was signed on January 8, 2002, and was instituted by George W. Bush. This Act was erected and enforced in 2001, because George Bush felt that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was not suitable for the children of America. The Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 were for students with low income families. ( Schugurensky, 2002) It was created to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to achieve a high-quality education. However, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act has been consistently under construction, since it was created by President Lyndon B. Johnson.. (U.S. Department of Education, 2004)
There are five main goals that George W. Bush is trying to achieve through the NCLB Act. The first goal is a requirement that schools make an adequate yearly progress (AYP). Each state has different standards and criteria to meet in order for the school to be considered a productive school. If the school does not improve, and is not considered a productive school, then the school will lose funding and be classified as �in need of improvement�. (The White House, 2002)
The next goal is that all teachers in all subjects become "highly qualified". If the government feels that a teacher is teaching inadequately then the teacher will lose his or her position. The teachers also have more requirements to meet before they are able to earn their teaching license. The NCLB Act provides $2.8 billion for teacher quality programs. The funds go towards allowing local school districts to use additional federal funds to hire new teachers, increase teacher pay, and to improve teacher training and development. (The White House, 2002)
The third goal of the NCLB Act is that student progress be measured by assessing reading, math, and eventually science. The student’s productivity will be measured by standardized testing, much like the SAT�s and the ACT�s. However, many parents are against the idea of standardized testing with students at such a young age. They feel that with all the emphasis on standardized testing and trying to have students do well on the tests there is not enough time for teachers to cover the basics. There is also a great deal of pressure on the young students to do well on the test.
The next goal is to have all students, including all subgroups, by the 2013-2014 school years to be at a proficient level on state testing. The subgroups include the five race/ethnicity groups, economically disadvantaged students (students receiving free or reduced price lunch), students who are limited English proficient (LEP), and students with disabilities. (Fact Sheet, 2007)
The final goal of the NCLB Act is for parents to have more options in selecting schools that their children attend. When a school is classified is as �in need of improvement� the parents have an option to send their children to a different school in the district, and the county will provide transportation. Parents may feel that moving their child to a different school will give them the opportunity to work with teachers and teacher assistants who will be able to help their child to obtain a better education. (American Historical Association, 2007) The No Child Left behind Act is very controversial. Parents, teachers and administrators have strong feelings about the benefits and the negative aspects of this law. Some of the Pros include having the children of America receive a quality education, and to be taught by highly qualified teachers. The law mandates that all teachers must teach in areas in which they are certified. This ensures that all students will have the advantage of being taught by teachers who are very knowledgeable in their subject area. Before the No Child Left behind Act, teachers were allowed to teach numerous subjects that they had not been prepared for in college. Being taught by teachers who are not trained in a specific subject area makes it more difficult for children to learn
Another advantage of the No Child Left behind Act is that parents now have greater educational options for their children. If parents are not satisfied with how the school is teaching their children, and the school is classified as in need of improvement, then the parents have the option to have their child switched to another schools in the school district.
The No Child Left behind Act is extremely beneficial to families of students who have special needs. The Act ensures that children with special needs will receive the additional assistance necessary for them to become proficient and successful in all subject areas. Without this assistance, the achievement gap between students with special needs and children who do not have special needs would grow. If children do not receive the assistance they need to be successful at an early age, it will be difficult for them to catch up with other students as they become older.
The main goal of the No Child Left behind Act is to close the achievement gap between minorities and white students. Statistics have shown that schools are slowly but surely closing this gap. The long-term results of the Nations Report Card, released in July 2005, provided statistics that indicated that the No Child Left behind Act is having a positive influence on our country’s children. Reading and math scores for African American and Hispanic nine-year-old reached an all-time high. America's nine-year-old posted the best scores in reading (since 1971) and math (since 1973) in the history of the report. America's 13-year-olds also earned the highest math scores the test ever recorded. More progress was made by nine-year-olds in reading in the last five years than in the previous 28 years combined. This study attributed student’s success and growth in achievement to the No Child Left behind Act. (U.S. Department of Education, 2006)
Just as there are many positive aspects to the No Child Left behind Act, there are also many negative aspects. A negative aspect of the No Child Left behind Act is the amount of pressure that is put on the students to test well. The Act requires testing in math and reading when students are in the third grade, when most students are only eight years old. Putting so much pressure on young children cannot be healthy for them. The demands to improve student test scores have also led to cheating. The Dallas Morning News last year found strong evidence that teachers were helping students cheat at 400 schools throughout Texas, including Houston. Teachers are now faced with the need to improve test scores or else they will lose their jobs. Some teachers simply resort to giving the answers to the students, which is incredibly unethical. (Reutter, 2005)
Another unethical characteristic is how the state wide tests that the students take are not the same. The state makes the tests, and they can alter the test so that their state scores to par with the other states.
The No Child Left behind Act is also inadequately funded. The No Child Left behind Act creates huge demands upon local districts, many of which are not funded by the law. (McKenzie, 2003) George Bush has enacted this Act and is enforcing this Act; however, he is not supplying the money to support this Act.
Another negative aspect to the No Child Left behind Act is that it is virtually impossible to meet the goal of having all students at the proficient level by 2013-14. Here are some statistics interesting statistics that show America`s proficient level now. There are 32 percent of 4th graders who can read at grade level. There are 17 percent of 12th graders who are proficient in math and 18 percent of 12th graders are proficient in science. The goal of having 100% of all students to be proficient is clearly not plausible. (U.S. Department of Education, 2006)
The most negative aspect to the No Child Left behind Act is the staggering number of teachers who would lose their job because they are not highly qualified. The idea of having highly qualified teachers in the context of this law is preposterous. Teachers now do not have the option to teach what they want to teach, and what they know will be helpful to the students. Now teachers are teaching to the test, and not the information that the young students of America need. It is also much harder to become a teacher thanks to the No Child Left behind Act. There is a shortage of teachers in our country and George W. Bush is making it harder for those who want to become teachers to do so. This is the main reason why I personally am against the No Child Left behind Act. So in conclusion I believe that the No Child Left behind Act is not a good idea I feel that the goals set by George W. Bush are not attainable. The funding provided by the government is also inadequate. The last reason I am so against the No Child Left Behind Act is because great teachers lose their jobs because their students either aren`t smart enough to pass the tests, or they are bad test takers. My mother has been teaching for 36 years and she could potentially lose her job if her students don`t pass the state wide test. I think that the Act should either be seriously revised or abolished.