NCLB and Students with Disabilities - Research Paper Example

NCLB and with Disabilities NCLB and with Disabilities Where would Special Need children be educationally without No Child Left Behind? What impact has NCLB created among children with disabilities? Hypothesis:  I predict the No Child Left Behind law has created an inclusion classroom for students with special needs. According to the rules of educational research, the project requires a clear statement of purpose and research questions. These form the foundation for the research project and capture interesting and important aspects of the research. The broad spectrum in this topic is the educational standards for children with disabilities. Brainstorming led to concentration on the Act that saw access to education for students with disabilities. The mind map in the problem area led to the concentration on the NCLB Act. The act covers all students with a special emphasis on children with disabilities. The final idea was researching on the effect of NCLB on learners with infirmities and the new classroom introduced for these students (Mertler and Charles, 2011). The research questions helped set the boundaries for the research. The greatest challenge was forming a central idea that would carry the activities in the research. Setting the insight of the answers to the research questions was another problem. The NCLB has several guidelines for educators, teachers, and researchers (Mertler and Charles, 2011). Some of them are not directed to students with disabilities. This was solved by considering the expected responses and results from reviewing the guidelines introduced by NCLB. The research questions had a lot of literature that involved both the IDEA and NCLB Acts. The topic on educational programs and standards for students with disabilities seem to overlap in the two acts. Sharpening the problem area solved this problem by placing more emphasis on NCLB than on IDEA (Mertler and Charles, 2011). The enactment of NCLB changed the educational landscape for students with disabilities by introducing vast changes (Peterson and West, 2003). The act gave children with disabilities access to free public education improving their educational outcomes. The act has raised awareness of poor performance of many schools and students especially those with disabilities. According to the federal law, states, schools, and communities have to collect data on student performance, broken in categories of race, and factors such as the native language and disability (Peterson and West, 2003). Public schools are faced with the greatest challenge of producing good performance raising concern for families with children in these schools. Students with disabilities have low rates of high school completion, success and graduation with diplomas in the market as opposed to those without disabilities. The dropout rates for students with disabilities are high, and most of them fail to achieve a high school diploma making their dropout rates four times higher than for those without disabilities (Peterson and West, 2003). NCLB has helped states and schools change their strategies in order to prepare students with disabilities for challenges of higher learning and economic self-sufficiency (Peterson and West, 2003). This involves evaluating the federal and state level programs and strategies that enhance educational practice. This has in turn improved the valued educational outcomes for youth with disabilities. Changing the educational strategies has reduced the rate of school dropout among students with disabilities. The incorporation of NCLB in schools dealing with students with disabilities has helped increase the number of students graduating with high school diploma. Initially, several students would graduate with a certificate of attendance due to poor educational performance (Peterson and West, 2003). The states also developed effective strategies that would help students transit from high school to institutions of higher learning. Several students with disabilities experience challenges when joining college and lose their connection with postsecondary education (Peterson and West, 2003). The enactment of NCLB has introduced an inclusion classroom for children with disabilities. The Act challenged the standards of math and science in order to include students with disabilities. This aimed at ensuring proficiency among students within 12 years including those with disabilities. The school, district, and state levels have to account for all students with disabilities. This created an avenue for ensuring that they attend school and participate equally in educational activities. Students in disabilities have to participate in the district and state wide assessments. According to NCLB, the students have to participate in two annual tests for students in grades 3-8 and at least once for those in grades 10-12 (Peterson and West, 2003). The state and district departments have to review the academic content standards which determine the content the students should learn. This incorporated educational content that could be understood by students with disabilities. The achievement standards that mark how well students should learn were also reviewed. NCLB introduced an Adequate Yearly Progress that requires all students to have reached proficient levels on state texts by 2013-14 (Peterson and West, 2003). Individual schools have to meet an AYP target in mathematics and language arts or reading. The school cannot meet the desired AYP if any subgroup fails to meet the desired AYP. This has forced school administrators to put more educational emphasis on students with disabilities to meet the AYP standards. Schools failing to meet the AYP standards would be discredited, and parents would be forced to transfer their children to other schools. This has expanded the alternatives for parents who want their kids to acquire high educational standards. Schools had to incorporate tested and approved teaching methods for students with disabilities to improve their score in the state tests (Peterson and West, 2003). NCLB has increased dialogue between policymakers, researchers, and educators. There is an improvement in coordination between these bodies as they develop standards and methods that favor education for students with disabilities (Peterson and West, 2003). Renewed cooperation has been noted between general educators and special education teachers. This has led to joint programming and professional development of the curriculum targeting students with special needs. The schools and other educational stakeholders have to account for student performance; therefore, joint curriculum development is necessary. This has improved the educational standards for students with disabilities. This has in turn raised the expectations of these students (Peterson and West, 2003). The new guidelines have increased attention and assistance in terms of educational needs, which promises high educational achievement. The teaching standards and methods prepare them for college and equal competitive chances in the labor market. References Mertler, C. A., and Charles, C.M. (2011). Introduction to Educational Research. Pearson: Boston, MA Peterson, P. E., and West, M. R. (2003). No child left behind?: The politics and practice of school accountability. Washington, D.C: Brookings Institution Press. Read More