Today, December 10, Obama signed the Every Child Succeeds
Act to replace the No Child Left Behind Act. After signing, Obama said, "After more than 10
years, members of congress from both parties have come together to revise our
national education law—a Christmas miracle, a bipartisan bill signing”. The
senate cleared legislation beforehand in an 85-12 vote that $26 billion will be set aside
each year for this act for grades preschool to 12th grade. Obama has said
that the NCLB has not produced the results that America needs to be competitive
on a global scale and this new act will make every child prepared to succeed.
The bill curtails the federal
government’s power in education; it gives power to the states to evaluate its
schools and teachers with their own standards. The yearly budget would be $26
billion and the federal government cannot give incentives to use any particular
learning standards or evaluate teachers in any certain way. This bill sets up a
grant program for states to provide more early-child education to lower income
areas. It provides for $250 million a year for expanding access to preschools. However,
the bill still keeps the standardized testing requirements that the No Child Left
Behind Act had and mandates that states document improvement of student
performance on these tests. The bill requires testing in math and reading yearly in grades
three through eight and once in high school.
People who opposed the bill include
Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah who said that the Every Child Succeeds
Act does not have a central planning model of education and as a result, will
not succeed.
On the other hand, Randi
Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers is a supporter of the bill and said that the
legislation is a step in the right direction in letting the states have more
discretion on educating children.
Senator Rand Paul voted no on the
bill, Lindsey Graham voted yes, and Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Bernie
Sanders did not vote.
It is very important for the United
States to improve its education system because our citizens are now competing
on a world stage. It may be an improvement that the Every
Child Succeeds Act gives more power to the states because that means that the
school systems are more local and accessible, but still being held to national standards through standardized testing.
Is this new Every Child Succeeds Act an improvement to our education
system? Is it better to leave education issues to the states? Is standardized
testing a viable way of examining improvement in students? Is it better to have a centralized model of education or a decentralized model?
6 comments:
This bill really is a great Christmas present to the millions of children attending public schools all around the country. While it may not be a perfect reform, it is certainly a great step in the right direction for where education ought to be. Although the "no Child Left Behind" act was passed in good faith, it ultimately was a complete failure. The new "Every Child Succeeds" plan will shift a huge amount more power onto the states rather than the federal government, which will hopefully allow for better education overall. As stated before, this is simply a step in the right direction. No Child Left Behind has left behind the repeated standardized testing that every one of us has (unhappily) been a part of. But what's important about this bill is that it gets rid of the benefits that teachers get by having students do well or the penalties for students doing bad. It'n not perfect, but hopeful now teachers will focus more on teaching real information rather than teaching for a test.
http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/12/from-no-child-left-behind-to-every-student-succeeds-new-education-law-on-its-way.html/
Despite the good intentions of the No Child Left Behind Act, its implementation really did spiral into everything I hate about our education system today. There was a heavy reliance on arbitrary test scores to decide students' intelligence, rather than a focus on guaranteeing equal opportunities and services for students of all abilities and backgrounds. I agree with "Your Pal" that the Every Child Succeeds Act seems to be a pleasant turn of events. At last, teachers will be able to do what they are actually passionate about; they will be able to enrich students minds with education and knowledge, as opposed to teaching material so students can pass state and federal exams. Under the Every Child Succeeds Act, states are allowed to adopt the Common Core system, but it is not required. Considering the uprisings Common Core has caused in the past, this seems to be a wise choice on the part of American lawmakers. My final thoughts on the subject are in line with Athena's initial sentiments on the matter; it certainly is refreshing to see a bipartisan bill be implemented.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/no-child-has-failed/2015/02/13/8d619026-b2f8-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/12/10/every-student-succeeds-act-vs-no-child-left-behind-whats-changed/77088780/
Like Obama said on Thursday, the No Child Left Behind Act has goo intentions "But in practice, it often fell short. It didn't always consider the specific needs of each community. It led to too much testing during classroom time. It often forced schools and school districts into cookie-cutter reforms that didn't always produce the kinds of results that we wanted to see." It's one-size-fits-all structure proved to be unsuccessful in implementing its goals. I particularly agree with the testing in the Every Student Succeeds Act which provides more flexibility in how tests are administered. I also like how it does not require states to adopt Common Core if they choose and even states that the Department of Education will remain neutral. I think its interesting that the new law leaves many more things up to the state including accountability. I'm not sure if this will end up in increased education disparity among states but it will be interesting to see how that plays out. I agree with Athena and raswaglia that it is nice to finally see some bipartisanship in Congress, especially regarding such an important issue such as education. While the new bill is not perfect of course, it is a step in the right direction.
Source:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/12/10/every-student-succeeds-act-vs-no-child-left-behind-whats-changed/77088780/
"It's not the bill I would have written on my own, it's not the bill the Republicans would have written. That's compromise." Tweeted Democratic Senator Patty Murray, one of the architects of the bill. In my opinion, this statement perfectly sums up the significance of the Every Child Succeeds Act being signed into law: the Democrats and Republicans are capable of compromise. Unfortunately, from a student's perspective, this act relies heavily on standardized testing. As "Your Pal" and "raswaglia" have expressed, standardized testing is not an accurate representation of how the students are doing nor an effective way to promote education because professors will be teaching for the tests, not for the further learning of the student. With the emphasis on standardized test that has been implemented, the problem of students knowing only how to test but not how to problem solve in the real world will become even more a problem. This being said, there are portions of the act that are potentially beneficial. Though areas with already decent school systems won't see much difference as a result of the act, more impoverished neighborhoods will certainly benefit from the $26 million that has been set aside for education. For the reason that states know better than the federal government where best to distribute this money, it is good that more power is being given to the states through this act.
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/12/the-bloated-rhetoric-of-no-child-left-behinds-demise/419688/
While the No Child Left Behind act has not produced the results that were wanted to be up to par internationally, Obama believes that this similar education act will do just that; give America an edge in education and being able to achieve the highest potential from each and every student in the school systems. The new Every Child Succeeds Act will be an improvement on the education system because they are giving the states more control to evaluate their schools and teachers. In some states, such as New England states, this will not cause issues. However, in lower-income areas and states, these standards will not be uniform and thus the learning opportunities will consequently not be equal either. Standardized testing could be a viable wat of examining improvement in students if they were more modern tests and more uniform. Unlike the SAT, SBAC, and CMTs, this test would need to track improvement, not just how much you can study for a test. It is important to have a centralized set of standards for the nations education systems to follow as well as allowing the states to have their own freedom to conduct certain aspects of education themselves without the interference of the national government.
I agree with Ally that under this new act, the Every Student Succeeds Act, there is more opportunity and flexibility in terms of testing. This is important because if the states are in control, the tests can be more focused on the types of student's performance in the area rather than a lower national standard.
I agree with Hannah's comments, in saying that although the intentions of this plan were obviously good, the negatives did in fact outweigh the positives. The No Child Left Behind Act set goals that were intended to ensure equal and structured education to the children of our nation, but instead the programmed succumbed to the basic and prominent flaws of our education system. Along with the program came a heavy focus on standardized testing, and the comparison of children's statistics from one county to another. Schools were forced to base their curriculum around education plans that the rest of the nation was also following; students learn to pass tests instead of learning for purely educational purposes. These standards are often nation wide also, which does not take into account the varying needs of students in different environments and situations. States of lower income for example should have different standards when compared with states with higher income.The Every Student Succeeds Act allows for more flexibility in the administration of tests nationwide, and is a more comprisable program. Standardized testing is not an accurate representation of our children's intelligence, and there is a reason that other nations do not put as heavy a focus on it as we do here in the states.
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