Sylvia P.
Blog Contribution
This essay will examine the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ and how it has been a major instrument in the decline of the United States educational system. In addition, the act has created a condition in the country, allowing other nations to surpass us in educating its citizenry in Mathematics, Science, Technology, and general literacy.* According to Gene Gloeckner (Gloechner, 1991), the United States can not compete in science fields with other nations. According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), the United States, the country the strongest stand alone nation, ranked 8th out of 15 countries on a 5th grade science achievement test; and depressingly, by the 9th grade, students in the United States ranked 15th out of 16 countries rated.* Another researcher, Prof. Schmidt (New Educator, 2000) stated, in science, American fourth grade outperformed all other countries except South Korea but by the eighth grade, U.S. students barely scored above the international average in science, and in math they only outperform a handful of nations. Scores for 12th graders were dismal. The above statements are indicative of an educational decline as children ascend through the grade levels, which is a result of No Child Left Behind Act. The above results of student performance in the upper grades demonstrate a serious problem with the school system, which has a negative effect on the students. We must look at these results critically, and pose serious questions about US educational policy, which in turn we must carefully analyze these questions to find a solution.
The first question I would pose, is there a connection to the No Child Left Behind Act with the high dropout rate in the United States? According to author Barbara Pytel (Pytel, 2006) during her interview of five hundred high school dropouts, between the ages 16-25 , many reasons were attributed to there lack of interest in learning . The mixed statistics (as the interviewees were allowed to give more than one answer) revealed 47% said classes were not interesting, 43% had poor attendance, 45% schooling prior to high school did not prepare them for the course work, 69% were not motivated to work hard, 35% were failing, 32% “left to get a job”, 25% left to become parents, 22% left to take care of a relative. Of those five hundred students interviewed, two-third said, “they would have tried harder if more was expected from them” (Pytel, 2006). When I see statistics of this nature, I being to wonder, how could such numbers be allowed, a red flag goes up, more questions comes to my mind. The first and most important question, why is this happening within the most powerful country? Or a better question, how could this be happening in the United States of America?
A very interesting study, “New Study Offers Reality Check: No Child Left Behind is Increasing Dropout Rates”, described the relationship between dropout rates, minorities, and NCLB. Researchers at Rice University and University of Texas-Austin (2008) made a suggestion to what the No Child Left Behind Act should be before presenting their findings, “Bush might want to more correctly rename ‘No Child Left Behind’ to ‘Let’s Leave a Lot More Children Behind’ “. The study concluded, the Texas’ public school accountability system -- which is the model for the national No Child Left Behind Act -- directly contributes to lower graduation rates especially for minorities. It also concluded, teachers and administrators, within the Texas educational system, are rewarded when minority students drop out; as the schools do not make any efforts to retain the students. The attitudes of the schools were, “why retain students that make it impossible to comply with NCLB Act (McSpadden-McNeil, 2008).
In conclusion, the accountability system stressed by No Child Left Behind Act, make teachers the victims; as the teachers are forced to comply with the government’s high-stake accountability requirements. These requirements lead to enormous pressures which feed the high dropout rate among students from poor high school in urban areas (McSpadden-McNeil, 2008). Furthermore, Professor McSpadden-McNeil (McSpadden-McNeil, 2008) also stated, if the test scores don’t raise in a school, the principal could lose his/her job, and/or the schools could lose funding or even be closed. This study provides an insight into how the ‘quantitative’ No Child Left Behind Act, in which the numerical results alone determine a school’s future, cause more harm than good. A ‘qualitative’ approach works best. To provide a personal example, my son (a high school dropout) attends Columbia University, he left as the ‘quantitative’ public school system could not harness his potential. However, he has to work extremely hard to keep up with his peers, especially the international students. His in-school mentor is from the Ivory Coast in Africa, his descriptions of the educational system, in a war torn land, seem to be more ‘qualitative’ in approach. His school day started at 7am and ended at 6pm, with no summer vacations in between. Upon winning a lottery for an educational visa and only four years of residency in the US, he learned English in LaGuardia Community College, excelled and became accepted at Columbia University. He attributes this quick progress to the quality of education he receive back home.
REFERENCES:
The Daily Galaxy: News from Planet Earth & Beyond(February 15, 2008 )New Study Offers Reality Check: No Child Left Behind is Increasing Dropout Rates, referenced from:
http://www.dailygalax.com/my_weblog/2008/02/new-study-offer.html
Gene Gloeckner (Spring 1991);The Integration of Science, Technology, and Mathematics Myth or Dreams ? , referenced from:http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v2n2/gloeckner.html
New Educator colloege of education (Fall, 2000)referenced from:
(http://www.msu.edu/neweducator/Falloo/Timss.htm
Barbara Pytel: (November 4, 2006), Dropouts Give Reasons: referenced from:
http://educationalissues.suite.101.com/print_article.cfm/dropouts_give_reasons
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