Racism in the American schools can be observed in many forms which are the different attitudes of teachers to the representatives of minorities or the discriminating attitudes of the classmates in relation to the other ethnicities because of differences in color. Such racial behaviors as the ignorance or persecution because of skin color are typical for many schools in Arkansas, USA.
Furthermore, the rights of the representatives can be violated with references to the issue of equality. Thus, in 2011, the public was interested in the case of Kymberly Wimberly who was prevented from being a single valedictorian during the graduation ceremony in spite of her academic successes.
There was the opinion that the discrimination was based on the racial issue (Valedictorian sues school, 2011). From this point, all the above-mentioned racial behaviours such as the ignorance, persecution, and prevention can be discussed as discriminating in their nature. To overcome the discrimination issues, there should be a policy stating the equality of rights for all the races and ethnicities.
The main policy associated with the education field which works to state the equality of students’ rights is No Child Left Behind (NCLB). That is why, it is necessary to focus on NCLB policy as the legal tool to avoid the discrimination toward the representatives of minorities realized not only by students but also by educators. Thus, one of NCLB policy’s functions is to state the equality of rights for all the students.
NCLB is the complex act in which the rights of the disadvantaged students are performed. The racial issue is also discussed as one of the main points of the act.
According to NCLB, the assessment tools for students in spite of their race and abilities should be equal to provide students with the opportunity to receive the quality knowledge and be regarded equally (Darling-Hammond, 2007). From this point, NCLB can be used to regulate the discriminating behaviours in school realized by teachers who are inclined to express racial behaviours and evaluate students unequally.
NCLB is provided in the US schools as the policy to improve the low scores of the minority groups in order to guarantee the equal opportunities for all the students in spite of their ethnicity. Focusing on the allocation, it is necessary to state that the policy is associated with the rights of disadvantaged students or representatives of the minority groups who can experience a kind of discrimination when their results are assessed by prejudiced teachers (Kahlenberg, 2008).
That is why, standardized tests are developed to present the real picture. From this perspective, the policy works basing on the definite standardized assessment tools. It is important to note that these standards are determined by all the states separately.
Standardized tests which are developed to monitor the students’ progress should provide educators with the possibilities to improve the students’ level of knowledge basing on the tests’ results. NCLB is delivered as the complex policy which is funded at the federal level in association with the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program.
Thus, the government has definite expectations in relation to the success of the policy in providing the equal rights and avoiding discrimination in assessing the students’ academic results in particular and considering the social achievements in general (Ferguson, 2003).
The particular features of the provision of NCLB are challenged with the necessity to develop the national testing policies which are appropriate for all the states and can resolve the problem of discrimination. Much attention is paid not only to the representatives of the minority groups but also to low-income students (Thernstrom & Thernstrom, 2003). Furthermore, the representatives of the minority groups often belong to the low-income category. Thus, NCLB is directly connected with resolving the racial issue in education.
NCLB can be discussed as the effective policy to overcome the issue of discriminating students by educators according to their race while assessing the completed tasks. In spite of the fact educators are forbidden to demonstrate the racial behaviour, there are cases of the hidden discrimination in relation to the ‘black’ or ‘brown’ students’ successes and social status as it can be observed with references to the situation in Arkansas.
Nevertheless, this policy cannot be discussed as successful for the disadvantaged students and representatives of minorities because the necessity to follow standardized tests creates the additional challenges for students and provides more triggers for being persecuted by the other students as result of making additional efforts to improve the results according to the set standards (Kahlenberg, 2008).
It is possible to note that the focus on the race in relation to NCLB cannot be discussed as the positive aspect for minorities because this emphasis on the separation contributes to the development of more issues associated with the question of equal opportunities and rights. That is why, NCLB as the PSQ can be discussed as the only partially successful policy in relation to contributing to the equality and avoiding discrimination in education.
References
Darling-Hammond, L. (2007). Race, inequality and educational accountability: The irony of No Child Left Behind. Race Ethnicity and Education, 10(3), 245-260.
Ferguson, R. (2003). Teachers’ perceptions and expectations and the black-white test score gap. Urban Education, 38(4), 460-507.
Kahlenberg, R. (2008). Improving on No Child Left Behind. New York: Century Foundation Press.
Thernstrom, A. & Thernstrom, S. (2003). No excuses: Closing the racial gap in learning. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Valedictorian sues school: Was she snubbed because of race? (2011). Web.