Aed 222 Week 1 Nlcb 2001 Principles and Special Education

NLCB 2001 principles and special education
The No Child Left Behind act has its pros and cons when it comes to the five core principles including strong accountability, expanded flexibility and control, methods based on scientific research, expanded options for parents, and highly qualified teachers. The pros and cons of the say this because when teaching diverse learners they are dealing with a variety of different learning styles. In turn every student will not respond to the No Child Left Behind principles or methods in the same manner, meaning that it may work for some while it may not work for others. The idea of strong accountability it is relevant to the teachers and the students. The teachers they are held accountable due to the set standards and curriculums that they have to teach and follow in order to meet the goals of the NCLB. Along with this they have to prepare the student for the standardized tests that are put in place to measure the students and the teacher’s progress. This is tricky because if the student fails teachers are held accountable while the students are also held responsible for themselves if they fail. This is when highly qualified teachers cone into effect due to the evaluations of their teaching through how the students perform on the standardized tests. In some ways this may be a good thing, but it can also be really bad too. If the students do good then the teachers look highly qualified but if the students don’t do a good job then the teachers look unqualified or as if they are not meeting the standards when that really may not be the case at all. Although teachers have certain curriculums to follow, they do have expanded flexibility and control regarding tailoring their lesson plans which is a good thing that gives them a little freedom. On the other hand it has its cons too because that in my opinion is about the only leeway that they have to make things their own. This will affect the students because teachers are stuck in this box when it comes to tailoring the lessons to meet the needs of the students. The fiscal policies may be beneficial to the students as well as the teachers. This is because school districts are granted federal funds in which they have the ability to use at their own discretion. The pro is the fact that there are no federal restraints and they can use the money at their own will or preferences. This can help students in schools that are falling behind in meeting the set educational standards by hiring qualified teachers and buying the proper equipment that is needed. However it also has a downside in relation to the students in schools that are meeting and surpassing the set educational standards, because they may not reap the benefits of receiving the funds. Teaching methods are something that has been scientifically researched over and over. From what I know there are different teaching methods and some of them may work better than others according to the students learning styles, and I think teaching methods most definitely should be based on scientific research and then incorporated into the NCLB principles. This in my opinion has the potential to cater to each and every student individually and can raise their potential to be successful. The parents have the ability to comment and keep an eye on the schools and teachers to ensure their doing a good job. When it comes to their children if the teachers and or schools are not helping their children to meeting the set educational standards then they can raise the red flag and the persons involved can be investigated. On one hand that is a good thing, but, the other hand, this may only apply to some of the students because some students may be doing better than others however it is still good to take a look at things. There is always room for improvement to the NCBL act but in my opinion there are more pros than cons which are a good thing.