No Child Left Behind: Changing

No Child Left Behind: Changing the Way Teachers Teach

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes that teachers have made in order to adapt to the need to improve student test scores on standardized tests since the introduction of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This act promised to reform the school system in order to prepare students for the technological challenges that it would face in the future. It focused on improving teacher quality, school choice and accountability and assessment (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). However, the act had many more affects than was first anticipated. This research will examine how the act changed the way that teachers teach. It will support the thesis that No Child Left Behind does not allow teachers to demonstrate their true talents, as it forced them to teach for the test.

Problem

No child Left Behind introduced standardized testing to add an element of standardization and accountability to the United States school system. Tremendous pressure was placed on schools and individual teachers to make certain that their students performed to the acceptable standard. Many teachers were used to a certain degree of freedom to change the curriculum or add enrichment activities to the curriculum. This all ended with No Child Left Behind. Due to time and other pressures, teachers found themselves teaching to the test and only the test.

The limits placed on teachers by the need to make certain that their students were performing up to par created unanticipated gaps in the educational system. For instance, the teacher must now play the averages in the classroom. This leaves many students behind, such as bilingual students, who are at a disadvantage at test time (Menken, 2006). Other groups of students are left out of the equation as well. These gaps need to be resolved so that the system is fair to all learners. Teachers need more flexibility than teaching to the test allows so that they can better address the needs of all students in their classrooms.

Topics to Investigate

Throughout the course of this research, several topics of interest will be investigated. These topics will highlight an examination of how No Child Left Behind affects special groups of children in the classroom. These groups will include English as a Second Language student, special needs students, and gifted students. This portion of the examination will help to determine if all groups of students benefit from the teaching methods that grew from the act.

The research will also include an in-depth exploration of how No Child Left Behind has changed teaching methods in the classroom. It will explore methods, content, and general classroom management among elementary teachers. This portion of the study will also examine teacher opinions regarding the impact of the act on behavioral management within the classroom.

The structure of the research paper will be in problem-solution form. First, the research will present the problem and then the potential solution to the problem. The research will examine the merits of the potential solutions and their likely impact on both teachers and students. The research will examine the most viable solution including its definition, implementation, advantages, disadvantages and call to action.

Reader/Audiences

The intended audience for this research paper is public school teachers. A secondary audience will consist of school administrators, those responsible for adopting public policy and parents of school age children.

Methods

This research will use a quantitative research method that involves the administration of a survey to elementary school teachers of grades K-6. The research method will examine the key issues as indicated by a literature review. Key issues to be included in the survey are the perceived stress on teachers as they strive to teach to the test (Ottalini, 2008), how teaching to the test impacts special groups within the classroom (Irving, Nti, & Johnson, 2007), and how teaching to the test has narrowed their creativity and enthusiasm for teaching (Sonnenblick, 2008).