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No Child Left Behind and School Improvement Ivana Beeman Southern Utah University

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Why NCLB? Polarizing topic for educators Impact on everyday teaching and personal reflection No Child Left Behind

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No Child Left Behind was signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8 th 2002 (Jorgenson & Hoffmann, 2003) For states to receive federal funds they have to develop standardized tests and compare students results against high academic standards. Focus is on students who are at risk for not passing and not graduating To qualify for funds schools have to show Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). NCLB

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Teachers are forced to adjust their curriculum to accommodate the standards covered on the test. A lot of the important aspects of school curriculum were lost and not taught because students werent tested on it. Valuable instructional time was lost administering and preparing for these tests. Effect of NCLB on curriculum

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Students focus is on passing the test and not on becoming more creative and being able to solve complex problems. Future of Our Workforce

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Instead of focusing on passing the standardized tests mandated by No Child Left Behind teachers should focus on helping teachers become more effective, improving instruction and using data driven instruction. Shifting Focus From NCLB

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Build relationships with students Use clear learning targets Make learning relevant Use differentiated instruction Continue education Effective teachers and Improving Instruction

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Effective teachers use assessment in classroom frequently to examine students strengths and weaknesses (Salazar, 2008). Is student learning? Frequent use of formative assessments Formative and summative assessments should be created around the benchmarks and standards so they can be used to guide students to specific learning targets (Bambrick-Santoyo, 2010). Data Analysis

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Interviews with Rancho Teachers Field Activity

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Shift focus from anxiety driven high stakes tests to improving instruction Theory to practice

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Final word

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Bambrick-Santoyo, P. (2010). Driven By Data: A Practical Guide to Improve Instruction. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. References

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Jorensen, A. M., & Hoffmann, J. (2003). History of the Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB)Pearson Assessment Report. Pearson Assessment Report. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonassessments.com/pai/ Salazar, P. S. (2008). High Impact Leadership For High Impact Schools: The ActionsThat Matter Most. Larchmont: Eye On Education, Inc References cont