No Child Left Behind: The Gap Between Education
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was passed with good intentions, however, it has left the unprepared still unprepared and many states teachers are teaching their students to test. No Child Left Behind focus was to “close student achievement gaps by providing children with a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education”. This paper will discuss the gap between students entering college and high school students and what created the gap. The gap between students in college and students in their senior year of high school has gotten significantly bigger. A “highly selective institution [that] require[s] high school diplomas, college prep curriculum, high grade-point average, high school test scores, and extras” gap is “10%”, while “less selective four-year” gap is at “30%”, that’s a twenty-percent gap between the same amount of schooling. To look at these gaps, that no child left behind has created, between education the country has to look at two aspects of the gap and those are looking at “the gap between enrolling in college and being ready for college” and looking at “the causes of the readiness gap.” With these gaps come students being underprepared for college and it also shows flaws not only in this legislation, but it shows a flaw in our education system and it shows that this countries educator is failing their students by not providing them with the proper education that they deserve.
To start off this paper will look at the gap between enrolling in college and actually being college ready. Many students who fill college campuses, while they meet all the criteria for the college they are attending, fail to be college ready with no fault of their own, but at the fault of the education they were provided. Many Americans probably don’t know that “every year in the United States, nearly 60% of first year college students discover that despite being fully eligible to attend college, they are not ready for post-secondary studies.” If this fact was known many employers would lose most or all potential interns or future employees for the sheer fact that they got into college by passing a few tests. Much of that 60% enter college and have to take remedial studies, causing “low graduation rates, as the majority of students who begin in remedial courses never complete their college degrees,” because remedial courses don’t count towards college credits. While this debate between enrolling in college and being college ready has come to head in the last decade it remains an unanswered problem in the root of the education program the federal government has in place. Another thing many Americans probably don’t know is that “one-quarter of incoming freshman,” to a two-year institute, “are fully prepared for college-level studies.” That’s 25% of incoming freshman to a two-year college that is actually ready to begin college that leaves the other 75% to take remedial courses and leading to a higher dropout rate. Four-year college highly selective or not highly selective all said that “as many as 60% of incoming freshman require some remedial instruction.” The gaps can only get smaller if the country actually acknowledges that this country has a problem with the education of tomorrows leaders and acknowledging that something has to change, because “this huge readiness ape is costly to students, families, institutions, and tax payers, and is a tremendous obstacle to increase the nation’s college attainment levels. The country is throwing money at a system that while it is not completely broken is broken in some area that is preventing this country’s children from succeeding past high school. The broke piece is the No Child Left Act, this act is broken in the place that it believes all students learn the same and should be taught the same.
Next this paper will look at the causes of the readiness gap. There are two parts to the cause of the gap, first part is the high school diploma-college readiness gap. One thing this country has forgotten is that “earning a high school diploma does not mean that graduates are ready for college.” The diploma is seen as the golden ticket to college, but that isn’t the case the schools only want students to obtain their diplomas so that their success levels rise and they will help in any way they know how to make sure that they have a high graduation rate leaving the readiness gap to continue to increase. Many state voices are voicing their opinion that “high school diploma need not indicate college readiness.”
The second part that depicts the cause of the gap is the college-prep-college readiness gap. This gap is greeted by the belief that because a student takes a college prep class that he/she is ready for a college classroom and it shocks many that “college-preparatory curriculum is necessary but not sufficient to ensure college readiness.” Due to the fact that college-prep courses are pushed as a way to help students to be better equipped when they enter their school of choice it is often assumed that this course will help them later on in their academic career and this is often not the case. This country has to start looking at these college prep classes as not a way for these students be better equipped for their college career, but as a stepping stone in their way to being ready for college and having the mindset of being ready for class. Colleges in the state of teas require incoming freshman to take a Learning Framework class that helps get them in the college mindset, instead of introducing this class when they are entering college why not enter this class while they are still in their senior year so that they actually go into college with a sense of how college will be and how they need to adapt to it. College prep classes do not guarantee college readiness, they barely guarantee any knowledge of college at all. The No Child Left Behind has still provided a way for the underprepared to remain underprepared by allowing these college-prep classes to take place. If the legislators would look at these classes more closely they would see that they are not doing any good and they often are only offered to the students who take AP studies and not to the regular students who in the long haul might need them a little more than the AP students who are already a step ahead of everyone in their class.
Another part of the NCLB bill that is often shoved down children’s and educator’s throats is that test equal readiness and this is not the case. An ACT, PSAT, and a SAT do not so that a student is ready or not ready for college it adds undue stress on their studies by not only issuing state sponsored test, but by issuing these tests it shows the students that to level their success and readiness it is to test and test until there is no more test to give. In college, many professors test very little for the sheer fact that they expect more from their students and they expect their students to study and know the material so they test very little which is a culture shock for students who come from having multiple tests at a time thrown at them in many different subjects.
Another issue in the NCLB bill is that it is not making schools and teachers accountable for teaching to college readiness standards. These schools and teachers are too worried about their performance quality that they lose site at what they are really supposed to be teaching and that is to be teaching students things that will help them when they get to the next level of education. Whether that be from seventh to eighth grade or from senior year of high school to freshman year of college teachers are supposed to want students to succeed in all aspects of their education not just in the standardize test form of their education. The sad thing is that many teachers and schools will not change their ways and this country will continue to see a generation of students that were to test instead of a generation of students taught to succeed past the test and to succeed in their future educational endeavors. This country has come so far since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed in the sense that it has lost sight of what education actually is and it has lost sight of the fact that this country doesn’t need test to succeed it needs the the belief that students can go beyond there minds and go beyond their circumstances and find that they can accomplish anything if they set their mind to it.
When finding the gap and causes of the gap in education this country next has to look at looking forward towards the future and that comes with an agenda with six points. The first point is college readiness stands must be formally adopted by P-12 and postsecondary education, meaning “state leaders must recognize that defining college readiness exclusively in terms of courses and seat time is not a productive approach.” Point number two is high school assessments must measaure progress on the specific state-adopted standards, meaning the “assessments must directly measure student performance on readiness standards.” The third point is public school curriculm should reflect the specific statewide readiness standards, meaning “standards and assessments are means to the end of improving teaching and learning.” The fourth point is teacher development should address the effective teaching teaching of college readiness standards, meaning “the achievement of a readiness agenda depends on effective teaching of readiness standards.” The fifth point is placement decisions by college and universities must use the adopted readiness standards, meaning “readiness reform is the process by which colleged and universities determine whether students need remediation or can place immediately into college-level introductory classes.” The sixth and final point is state accountability systems must create incentives across P-16 for college readiness and completetion, meaning “desoite all the emphasis on accountability in P-12 and postsecondary education, states do not hold either sector accountable for improving college readiness. With this agenda also comes a checklist. This checklist come with five groups who have things they need to check off a list. Governors should “call for legislation, communicate often, and ensure readiness standards are adopted,” just to name a few. Legislatures should “ develop and pass legislation, set clear expectations, and revise accountability requirements.” The other three groups include P-12 boards, postsecondary governoring boards, and post secondary coordinating boards.
In conclusion, the gap between high school seniors and college freshman has gotten significantly bigger. It has also caused the under prepared to stay under prepared. The gap has caused for remedial courses to be forced upon incoming freshman. No Child Left Behind was passed by the government with good intentions for all students involved, however, it failed to see that not every student learns the same. The gap can change once teachers and school officials realize its not about the test scores that matter it’s about making sure their students are ready for what comes next in their education and preparing them for what comes next in there life.