No Child Left Behind Act
Both the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are fairly controversial pieces of legislation, particularly in the varying realms of public education that they affect. The former of these acts mandates that public schools must give yearly, standardized assessments of their students. The results of these assessments is largely the basis for federal funding to these schools. IDEA mandates assessments for students with learning differences and calls for the issuance of alternative assessments for those students who cannot complete the standardized assessments (Towles-Reeves et al., 2009, p. 233). The problem is that critics of these pieces of legislation have alleged that all they do is shift the emphasis of education on testing and subsequent funding, rather than on comprehensive education.
Problem Statement
There are actually several different ways in which these two pieces of legislation are negatively impacting young children and their families. Firstly, one must understand the correlation between these two mandates: IDEA reinforces the No Child Left Behind Act as the legislation that requires that even children in special education must submit to these assessments. The primary way in which the issues created by these...
Those schools that are not able to pass state standards are not administered funds, or are given funding much less than those schools that are able to pass. The schools with the greatest need for funding do not attain funds through these laws.
Current Practice
Local, state, and national organizations are in some instances addressing, and in others failing to address, this issue. At virtually all of these levels the focus is merely on test results for students, which neglects other critical aspects of education such as those pertaining to the art and recreational activities. Moreover, there are several schools and school systems that are not receiving sufficient public funds to help them. Instead, these systems get dubious free tutoring services (for students), with individuals who oftentimes are not as qualified to help these students as they should be. At the national level, however, there are several entities that are attempting to unite and change these two pieces of legislation so that they are more equitable and can account for financial disparities implicit in them in a better way.
Proposed Change
The change that I would like to…
