Becca Burney

Prof. Van Spronsen

Edu 330
February 27, 2017
Position Paper #1

Two different programs have been enacted recently, in an

attempt to better the education received in America: the No Child Left
Behind Act and the Every Student Succeeds Act. NCLB was brought
into action first and then replaced under Obamas administration by
ESSA.
Under the No Child Left Behind act, states were required to test
their students in both reading and math every year in grades 3 through
grades 8, and then once more in high school. The goal was to have all
students at the proficient reading level by the 2013/2014 school year.
Schools progress was monitered by AYPs, with consequences for the
states that did not meet their goals. Also under this law, there was a
requirement teachers had to fulfill in order to be allowed to teach in a
classroom. Each teacher was required to be certified for that state and
demonstrate proficiency in the subject matter they wish to teach.
The overall effectiveness of the No Child Left Behind act was not
very consistent. First of all, none of the states were able to get their
students to proficient reading levels by the 2013/2014 school year.
There is also the high dependence on standardized tests and the high
impact the scores have on teacher evaluations. Many teachers did not
like how focused it made the curriculum on math and reading, and
negleted other subjects such as, history, foreign languages, and the
arts. It also hurt a lot of teachers on their evaluations if they had
students who received low standardized test scores.
Under Every Child Succeeds Act, instead of having the goals of
the school/district/state depending on standardized testing, the state
now has the power to decide the goals. They also can chose to opt out
of standardized testing and try out different forms of testing. There is
also now an intervention level, where any school that is in the bottom
5%, receive state intervention to help bridge the achievement gap.
Because the standardized goals changed, states are no longer required
to do teacher evaluations through their students test scores, though
they can continue that if that is what they choose to do. The highly
qualified teacher requirement that was outline in NCLB is also gone.
The effects of Every Student Succeeds Act also vary. Every three
years, the schools in the lowest 5% are identified in order to provide
relief, which seems like a very good thing. But what is to be done about
the school that is at 6%? They still need help, but they're not doing
poorly enough to receive state intervention. The ability to change
teacher evaluations from student scores seems to be very positive
among many teachers and schools, as many did not like having their
effectiveness defined by how well their student did on one test. The
lack of requirements for teachers seems to be troubling for many,
because it allows teachers who were not previously qualified to teach
into classrooms and there is nothing that requires schools to notify
parents of the qualifications of the teachers.
I personally hope that Every Child Succeeds Act will begin to
address and help the schools that need it. I think the bottom 5% for
state intervention is a good way at starting to assist schools who are
falling behind, but 5% is such a narrow window of help, I am afraid it
wont help as many schools that it should or needs to. The other main
alarming issue I have with ESSA is the lack of highly qualified
requirements for teachers being hired by schools to teach students.
Since there is a shortage of teachers occurring right now, schools will
be desparate to hire anyone who is the least bit qualified, which will
only increase the achievement gap, because of the lack of
qualifications.
I believe there are good ideas in both NCLB and ESSA, but
considering that ESSA is what is now in effect, I think that is what we
need to focus on and seeing what can be done to help education within
this act.