Running head: SPECIAL EDUCATION AND THE PRINCIPALS OF NCLB 2001

Special Education and the Principals of NCLB 2001 Tonya Hawkins AED 222 April 22, 2012

SPECIAL EDUCATION AND THE PRINCIPALS OF NCLB 2001

Special Education and the Principals of NCLB 2001 The NCLB Act was intended to better the situation for student with learning disabilities and to achieve a more level learning field for all students. There are both positive and negative effects of this ACT when dealing with diverse learners. While the NCLB has a high accountability for teachers and administrators to push for academic achievement it can affect students of diverse learning negatively because not all student learn in the same manner. Under the NCLB act teacher primarily set achievements through milestones. The milestones transfer students from one achievement to the next after fully satisfying each level. This is a positive in that the student has accomplished one skill in concept and comprehension before being thrust into a more advanced milestone. Also, since accountability is so high it become good incentive to focus on helping students to achieve the higher standards that have been put before them through the NCLB. However, this is an aggressive approach and many students are unable to rise to this type of instruction. As an example, when students have test anxiety and must endure a series of milestone test the student is likely to do poorly on the test. Therefore, the milestone system has experienced a breakdown and has failed the student. The students self-esteem and confidence will suffer a major blew and recoil from pursuing to learn materials to achieve further milestones set before them. This is why teaching procedures must remain flexible to assist the diverse learner to achieve the milestones in the curriculum. NCLB also focuses on the concept of regional financial accountability. This allows local school districts the ability to set certain amounts of federal funds aside for later use or at their own discretion if they have failed to meet their Academic Yearly Progress. This is a major advantage since the money can be used to purchase need technology, or materials for

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accommodations, and to use for the hiring of extra personal to assist teachers. This is a huge advantage, especially for schools that may be failing in their Academic Yearly Progress (AYP). ON the other hand this can also been seen as a disadvantage because many times schools that are meeting their goals on the AYP are not allotted the same funding because they are achieving the goals. This could cause the loss of teachers and low employee moral may cause the program to loss support among educators thereby, teaching practices may suffer in the classroom. On a scientific level many teaching methods are more beneficial than others. Certain teaching methods are considered to be more progressive because they withstood time and are continuously optimized to benefit the student. NCLB press the importance of good teaching methods that have had recorded positive results of students achieving their academic goals. However, in the case of the diverse learner, even though these good teaching methods have been proven to advance other students many times they are not the appropriate methods that will work to benefit every learner. Therefore, once again teachers must use flexibility to assist these learners and seek out other scientific methods that will benefit these learns to make sure the learning field is level for every student. There is no justifying one teaching method in a classroom full of different learning styles. The NCLB Act also encourages more parental opportunity to further support the goals of the act. Parents are able to observe the teaching practices and keep track of the schools progress through AYP. They also have the ability to be in contact with the education boards and comment on how the teaching practices of the school are benefitting students. This keeps the school systems in check with the public, local, and state levels of education. Also by having parents involved it allows a wider range of views as to where there may concerns of teaching styles. This

SPECIAL EDUCATION AND THE PRINCIPALS OF NCLB 2001

is a positive for not only students but the school system as a whole to raise their standards of performance. One area that the NCLB has had a major positive influence in is the hiring of highly qualified teachers. In order for a teacher to become highly qualified they must prove their educational skills through the obtaining of a bachelors degree or higher as well as passing a series of test to prove their capabilities of educating students in a positive and effective manner. This is required to ensure that students have the best possible teachers in their field of training. By having highly qualified teachers who have passed all levels of education and training it is ensured that the classroom will have a variety of resources for every student and learning style.

SPECIAL EDUCATION AND THE PRINCIPALS OF NCLB 2001

Resource:
Rosenberg, M. S., Westling, D. L., & McLeskey, J. (2008). Special education for todays teachers: An introduction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.