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Students Left Unprepared by NCLB
Photo Credit By Huffington Post
KINGSTON, R.I._The No ChildLeft Behind Act has elicited controversial responses for years, with teachers and politicans alike both working toward making the education program more effective.
The No Child Left Behind Act was firs implemented in 2002, with the hope of bringing the education level of the United States closer to other nations.
People were pleased at how the government was offering a solution to the problem. The qualifications for becoming a teacher were raised with the hop that students who fell behind, would get more attention by the most credible people available.
Standardized testing was supposed to evaluate the progression and proficiency of students. The problem is, however, that test scores have only slightly improved and the increased attention in subjects that are most targeted by tests have caused students to decline in other areas, like the sciences.
Dr. Jay Fogleman, a member of the education department at the University of Rhode Island, believes that No Child Left Behind is a good concept, but it did not work like it was supposed to, and as a result there are college students who are not ready for the curriculum.
“The problem is that teachers focus on one subject while the sciences and arts get left out. That's the trade-off,” Fogleman said.
Students are taught to primarily learn the subjects that will be on standarized tests. The proficiency rating for schools may be rising, but many students are still lacking the ability to retain important information that they will need to know later in their education career.
Many people formed negative opinions of the program. The act has been revised since the Bush Administration, but many people still question the effectiveness of the program. Many teachers were hopeful that President Barrack O’bama, but Dr. Fogleman believes things that things have not really gotten better.
“We were hoping President Obama would make things better, but all he really did was raise the stakes,” Fogleman said.
The reform movements passed were included as part of the program called Race to the Top which awards sates points for meeting education goals.The idea was to motivate states to improve the proficiency rating of their schools.
Although Dr. Fogleman thinks improvements can be made to No Child Left Behind, he believes there is another problem that needs to be monitored.
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Rhode Island public schools have been making progress in recent years, possibly due to No Child Left Behind, with over 80% reaching their goal.
There is still a gap, however, particularly in mathematics for minority groups and students with disabilites. which was a big reason why the program was initially implemented.
A major problem that could have stemmed from No Child Left Behind is the level of preparation of college students, not only at URI, but all across the country.
Dr. Fogleman teaches freshman and notices that certain students enter college not as well prepared as they should be.
“We have bright students here, but the problem is that they are taught to a test,” Fogelman said.
Relying on test scores can prevent students from learning other important fundamental principles that they will need to know in order to succeed in college.
The lack of preparation has led to students and their families paying millions of dollars toward remedial courses that do not count for credit.
It seems clear that change needs to be made at the high school level and may be even farther back so that the students are given the proper tools to allow them to enter college alert and prepared.
A new Congress will take form next year and they may decide to make changes to education reformStates have the choice to waive No Child Left Behind and Rhode Island may decide after this academic year to discontinue the program if they feel funding is not necessary.
Dr. Fogleman believes that considering that the money for Race to the Top has almost run out, that the plan may need to be scrapped and a new one implemented since the current results are not ideal.