Tiffany Harris-Greene

Fundamentals of Curriculum

Dr. Jay Dugan

No Child Left Behind- The Obama Era

The Blueprint: President Obama’s reforms to

No Child Left Behind

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a revision of the 1965 Federal Law, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). It has been revised numerous times in the last few decades, but none with as much discontent, as when the past President George Bush revised it in 2002. The changes to the ESEA under past President Bush included the following:

• Annual testing to show progress.
• Progress must be determined as Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
• Penalties are enforced when AYP is not met.
• There is no credit for incremental improvement. It is all or none, when it comes to AYP.
• Treats all schools and students the same. Does not take into consideration diversity or learning ability.

Our new president, President Obama released his reauthorization to the ESEA, which falls under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The first stark difference is that President Obama has chosen to distance himself from the whole term NCLB. He is choosing to call his educational improvement plan, A Blueprint for Reform.

In my opinion, the first major change to the previous NCLB is that the 2009 A Blueprint for Reform is more supportive of education, school systems and teachers. Its overall tone and perspective is to celebrate educational growth. The new reform does not zero in on a standardized test score, but the progression up the learning scale. Do not get me wrong the Blueprint for Reform does still have testing as part of its accountability. However, the assessments are authentic and provide meaningful feedback for immediate improvement.

According to President Obama’s A Blueprint for Reform unveiled in March 2010, the goal for this administration’s educational plan is for all students to graduate high school prepared for college and a career by 2020. Outlined below are some benefits and some difficulties that may arise from the changes to ESEA.

Positives to A Blueprint for Reform, as outlined by the articles, Obama on no child left behind from the Education Magazine and Obama’s no child left behind revise: A little more flexibility from the Christian Monitor, both published in March 2010 are:

· There is less emphasis on yearly improvement, but provides flexibility and broadens the measurements to show progress. With this resources can be provided.

· Schools have the opportunity to improve without the fear of losing funding.

· Money is provided to implement broader assessments to evaluate- higher-thinking skills, technology, research, scientific investigations, present and defend ideas; then provide immediate feedback for improvement.

· Authentic assessments show knowledge in meaningful ways.

· All groups (ESL, Special Education, etc.) assessed appropriately to show growth, even if incremental.

· Continuous progress along the learning continuum, measures beyond reading and math.

· Creative incentives must be used to get students to stay through high school graduation.

· Recruitment of STEM teachers.

· Recruit, develop and retain teachers in high-need areas and high-need fields.

· With the college track projected for all students, this can open more doors and opportunities.

Even with the evident positives to the reform to ESEA, there are still difficulties that can be argued. Some of these are:

· The college track for some students can be too difficult and can increase the drop-out rate.

· The recruitment of STEM teachers outside of the classroom can produce teachers that do not know how to teach and just spew knowledge without concern about the students and the learning.

· “Highly Qualified/Effective Teachers and Principals” can benefit from incentive pay for high performing students, but leaves other performing teachers and principals out in the cold.

After researching the current changes to ESEA, I can begin to see a shift in the thinking and approach to education and the diversity that encompasses it. Preparing all children of the future with the best education is now not only a cause for the schools, but for the Nation as a whole.