Child Left Behind Dbq

President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act was the largest piece of education reform to hit America since 1965. This act, signed into law on January 8, 2002, was meant to ensure there was accountability in education, that states, parents, and students had more options, and therefore, more control over education, that reading would be of the utmost importance, and that students would read at grade level by the third grade (Department of Education, 2003). Like President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, President Obama’s Race to the Top Initiative seeks to offer a solution to the problems facing America’s educational system. The Race to the Top initiative offers financial incentives to states that are prepared to increase standards and

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can occur after a person has experienced a traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, abuse, combat, or even an accident. Students displaying higher post traumatic stress symptoms scored significantly lower on standard academic tasks than those with less severe symptoms (Rutkowski, Vasterling, Proctor, & Anderson, p.231). Another factor that influences test scores is student family life. Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, who speak a language other than english at home, or have parents with lower levels of completed education can be expected to achieve lower test scores (Price, p.786). The SAT is, arguably, the nation’s most important standardized test. It has frequently come under scrutiny for racial bias. However, when research psychologist, Roy O. Freedle, accused the test of partiality, it was notable because Freedle had worked at the Educational Testing Service, a collaborator in the development of the SAT, for over thirty years. Through his research, Freedle found that while students answered correctly the questions that contain difficult words, words presumably taught in class , they often missed questions that contained more familiar words, words that potentially have different meaning in different cultural groups (Mathews, 2003). Until all biases in standardized testing is removed, they, alone, should not be

As Moon, Brighton and Callahan (2002) have noted, more than 75% of teachers spend more time on test related material than they would if there were no tests involved. In fact, if information isn’t going to be on the test, there’s a chance that the information won’t get covered at all (2002). While educators agree that hands-on activities, incorporating art projects, and group directed literature workshops are essential to improving educational quality, teachers feel that they need to teach in formats similar to those on the test, which include rote memorization and worksheets (Moon, Brighton, and Callahan, 2002). Even in schools where teachers and administrators downplay the importance of standardized testing, saying they don’t count it as important, they often continue to carve out time in the school year for test prep. Grinell and Rabin state that the school they observed for their research was such a school (2013). Maple Elementary school is a school with a family like culture. In what can be described as an oddity, Maple Elementary School is one of the few schools in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods that actually performs well in the state’s standardized tests. However, that comes at great price. Teachers admit, “But [the results] don’t