Analyzing No Child Left Behind Initiative

No Child Left Behind Initiative The following will be a critique of No Child Left Behind with regards to technology integration. The dream in most schools to have a technology program has remained unfulfilled. This is because their teachers have neither the skill nor the time to effectively incorporate technology in class. There are also limited resources for media experts to create conducive environment for students to learn. Another problem is that administrators cannot come up with a strategy that is cohesive, due to lack of technical wherewithal.

Moreover, most of the educators have this misconception that the type of technology does not matter; they are all good. Therefore, technological innovations may in some occasions act as obstacles, both of and in themselves. For instance, in a case where a media expert starts to recklessly bring in different kinds of digital tools, such as hardware and software; and does not give a valid reason for how they should be used, the specialist may ignore other tools important in achieving their goals.

This is because it may create a belief that there is total technological integration in the media centre. This means that unreasonable use of technology may act as an obstacle, both of and in itself, and even disrupt the success of students (Barriers to Integrating Technology - The Digital Librarian). Presently, evaluation in school is in the form of countrywide and school high-stakes examination, hence the evaluation has a critical impact, including graduation or promotion of students. The U.S.

act dubbed "No Child Left Behind" insists a lot on examination, leading to a lot of pressure on both the schools, students and teachers, for them to be successful. This method of evaluation may have a number of factors that may be a hindrance to technological advancement. Technology for Assessment Instead of Instruction/Teaching Most schools integrate technology for the purpose of enhancing the process of evaluation instead of the process of instruction.

The emphasis on this issue undermines the prospective promise of these advancements as a tool for learning and teaching, as well as cutting the cost which may have been incurred on instructional tools and software. There may be a stable supply of constant training and facilities, but the utilization of computers by teachers, for instruction, is still quite limited (Hsu, 2010). It is not known well enough, if the cause of this problem is the inadequate knowledge and skill of teachers in using computers.

The effectiveness of incorporation of technology was assessed for the purpose of understanding better, how important it is for teachers to be skilled and knowledgeable in technological matters. There were two scales created to assess the skill and frequency of utilizing the available technological innovations. This was done on the basis of performance indicators by ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). Only Focusing on Newness In the past, we have tried to make educational reforms by solving old problems with new solutions.

We equate "newness" with "change," and "old" with "ineffective." People are only satisfied with the idea that something is new. Newness is what they pay attention to. They believe in replacing the old with new, instead of ineffective with effective. They have no regard for replacing inefficient with efficient. This centering only on new innovations of computer technology, without considering the process of learning and teaching; may eventually lead to repetition of computer innovations. This way, it may not be possible to have any benefit from the innovations.

There may come a time when we involuntarily accept the problem of data and data alone, leaving out the thought process (Earle, 2002). We are so obsessed with the possibility and promise of having a process of hardware technology that we ignore the major lessons we learn from our past experiences with technology in education. We cannot point out a specific medium as the best; after all, it is not the end, but rather the means. The message does not matter, what matters is the medium.

Snider talks about our centering on technology only, stating.