Welcome to my blog! I am using this blog to think out loud about some of the issues I encounter in the field of Special Education. I welcome your comments.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 ushered in the beliefs that setting high standards would raise the overall outcomes for all students. In order to recieve funding through this act, states most develop assessments in the basic curriculum areas for all students. The goal is to have all students (including students in special education) performing at the proficient level in reading and math by 2014. Is this obtainable? Does it work against the main principle in special education of individualized education plans?
One of my first thoughts on this law is that there are no considerations for the varied educational levels of the students being served in public schools. States can develop alternative assessments for these students, but do these alternative assessments really address all that the law is pushing for? What are your thoughts?
First, NCLB allows the term proficient to be defined by each individual state. What the state of TN considers proficient in reading may not be what California considers proficient. Should there be national standards? I personally believe that it could simplify things, however, I don't personally believe in "big government."
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the TCAP Portfolio assessment is a fair assessment because it is an on-going assessment (not a snapshot) that accurately reflects skills taught in the classroom and measures how closely EACH student's program comes to achieving those goals. TCAP PA promotes student autonomy because it gives students the choice of 1) who to work with, 2) when to work on the activity 3) where to work on the activity 4) reward or positive reinforcement for completing the activity.
TCAP Alternate Portfolio Assessment is an alternate assessment that is based on alternative achievement standards (approved by the TDOE) and covers a narrower range of content. It reflects a different set of expectations in the same areas assessed ( Reading/Mat/Science/Social Studies) than do regular TCAP Assessments based on grade level achievement standards. TCAP PA goals and objectives are highly individualized to each student's needs.
Bottom line, TCAP PA continues to meet state and NCLB standards. It provides a wealth of student mastery data which ultimately guides our instruction.
Let me start off by saying that I don't know very much about NCLB, so please don't judge me for any outright wrong things I say. :D
ReplyDeleteI really like how you explained this post, first off, because I'm not use to reading law lingo and what not, but I can get the gist of this.
I can remember NCLB being a hot topic in my school. I can't say how it may have affected us when it first came about in '01, but I can remember it being an issue my senior year. I took a lot of AP courses, and my teachers often had issues with what they were required to teach according to NCLB. It wasn't that they didn't deem those standards important, but it left them little time to let us discuss issues or help each other learn...they are suppose to be like college level courses, after all. A lot of times, I think we end up having to focus so much on what NCLB says we have to know, that we just learn it for that time, and then don't really learn the things that we would carry with us in adulthood. My AP US Gov class (imagine that) comes to mind. I'm not super involved in politics, but I had a great teacher. I can remember him talking to us about NCLB and why we had to learn certain things but couldn't hash out all the things we as students wanted to discuss. I feel like I learned what I needed to learn to ace the class and the AP exam and whatever else I may have had to take, but I still don't really get involved in what's going on in our goverment because I don't feel like I really learned how to understand it (at no fault of my teacher, in my opinion). Maybe that's unrelated, but that is my first impression of NCLB.