No Child Left Behind

The topic I chose to write about which is a major influence on education today is the No Child Left Behind (NCLB). No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was singed into law on January 8, 2002 (Sharpe & Hawes, 2003 p. 1). This law changed how education was to be taught in America. Many new laws and regulations came into effect once this law was signed into effect. Many changes were made to the entire education system, including children with disabilities. I am currently enrolled in the Special Education Department at Kean University and this law has changed many aspects of how the curriculum is currently operating. The purpose of this paper is to research the impact the NCLB may have on students with special needs.

The government’s goal is to educate special education students and general education students together in the same classroom. The government decided that the special education system should be evaluated and they found that a radical change was needed to improve it. (Kaureffman, 2004 p. 1). One of the main changes that the government wanted to see was the achievement gap between special education students and general education students. I’m assuming that their main purpose was to have the same age child in general education be educated with the others in regular education classes. Closing the gap meant that students with a mental disability are able to learn just as fast as general education students.

After President Bush put NCLB into action three years ago, the nation started to ask if this law is truly helping our children with disabilities. Is this new law really helping our students exceed expectations? Or is this law doing nothing more then frustrating the students and teachers as they watch their success diminish? Before 2002 children with disabilities were taught together in a single classroom. There was no factor on how old the child was. They were in a classroom with a trained teacher who went to school to learn how to teach these children. Each student worked at their own level and speed to learn as much as possible. The teacher was trained to deal with so many different levels at the same time. And since these classrooms were relatively small, (maybe 8-12) the students were able to receive the individual attention that was needed for their success. The new law changed the whole structure of the special education system. Students with special needs are now taken out of their old classroom and are put into the general education classroom according to their age. For example, if a student with disabilities was nine years old, he or she would be placed into a fourth grade classroom regardless of their learning level. The logic of this change is to expose the children to the regular curriculum. The government believes if a child’s expectations are set high, then they will achieve more.

No Child Left Behind states that all students are exposed to the regular curriculum and must take the state wide standardized tests required for each grade. These standardized tests are also used to determine how successful the school performs. I think students with disabilities need to be tested. A test is just a way to see how much a student has learned. However, I don’t think the correct test to be given is a test from general education. Why not give an end of the year test customized for each special education student on the material he or she has learned throughout the year? That way the school system can see the improvement on each student. Not every student learns the same way or at the same pace. You can even argue that is a good reason why even standardized tests for general education students may not be totally fair to the students. But with cognitive disabled students the pace they learn is far different from general education students.

Educators, both special education and regular education now have to work together to provide the best education to all the students. To do this, special educators must become more adept in content knowledge and curriculum development, and general educators must understand their role in implementing IEP goals and objectives. This has brought upon a new challenge for both educators and their ability to fulfill their job duties efficiently. In