The No Child Left behind (NCLB) Act is an act that was proposed and enacted by President Bush’s regime in efforts to try and make sure that the funding offered by the government in all the public schools was used effectively and that everyone in charge of offering educational services to students performed their duties in an impartial and in an accountable manner.
This act hence advocated for the use of evaluation tests that were to be developed at the states level and were to be administered to both the junior and high school students in an annual basis. The main condition for the tests was that they had to be administered to all students at the same time and under the same conditions so as to make sure that there were no external factors that interfered with the evaluation process.
Through the use of Annual Yearly Progress (AYP), all the public schools that benefit from federal funding have to be graded every year so as to determine their progress and output as per the expectations set by the state they are located in. failure to meet with the requirements of the AYP would result to closer evaluation and re-evaluation as well as taking of corrective or even restructuring measures.
In extreme cases, the school may be closed or handed over to a different management, specially the management by the state office of education (Meier, 2004).
Some people in the USA oppose the NCLB law with claim that it tends to discriminate between different states and also that it may be biased since it is not a country-wide activity.
On the other side, while the law is actually intended to determine the commitment and accountability of the staff in public schools, the tests are usually applied to the students, even at early stages of education, a factor that subjects the students to a lot of pressure especially due to the fact that the school staff usually tries to make sure the students perform well so as to give their institutions a high rating and consequently a good reputation.
This hence deviates from the initial plan of the law since it places pressure on the students rather than on the intended group, the school staff. (Caucuses, 2007)
However, I differ with the negative claims that have been raised against this law and actually support the law mainly because it is intended to be non-partisan and undiscriminating as well as the fact that positive results have already been realized from the utilization of the law.
Research has shown that there has been a positive improvement in service delivery and competitiveness of the public schools as compared to the private ones (Politics TV, 2008).
Also, there has been a rise in the commitment of the staff in public schools resulting not only to better performance of these schools but also to a rise in the standards, attitudes as well as a creation of a positive attitude towards education and life in the students who attend public schools (Meier, 2004).
It is now a known fact that while private schools mainly concentrate on academic excellence among their students, public inst5itutions seek to enhance all the facets of life for their students including their academic, social, spiritual as well as physical development.
The NCLB law is undergoing a heated debate as different groups disagree on its authenticity and effectiveness. The government is under pressure to ensure it undertakes some reforms that will ensure it does not have negative pressure on students so as to ensure it effects positively as intended (Graner, LaCava & Simpson, 2009).
References
Caucuses, I. (2007). Barack Obama: No child left Behind. Web.
Graner, P., LaCava, G. & Simpson, R. (2009). The No Child left Behind Act: Challenges and Implications for Educators. Web.
Meier, D. (2004). Many Children left behind: How the No Child left behind Act is damaging our Children and Our Schools. New York: Beacon Press.
Politics TV (2008). State of the union ’08: Bush on Education. Web.