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VOLUME 2

ISSUE 2

Inside This Issue

No Child Left Behind - Briefs pertaining to Acountability, Progress and Teacher Quality

NACCTEP is very interested in your feedback and ideas! Please email us with policy issues you would like to see discussed in future briefs.

Volume 1, Issue 1

Volume 1, Issue 2

Volume 1, Issue 3

Special Edition Policy Brief

Volume 1, Issue 5

Volume 1, Issue 6

Volume 1, Issue 7

Volume 1, Issue 8

WELCOME

Welcome to the Policy Brief. The purpose of this brief is to provide a resource for teacher education professionals, administrators and students from which teacher preparation, recruitment, retention and renewal programs and policies can be developed.

The following articles are intended to help educators better understand how the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is affecting schools, reshaping the teaching profession, and altering state and federal education policies. The articles referenced here demonstrate various positions in support of or against NCLB mandates. Some offer recommendations to modify certain NCLB requirements. NACCTEP presents these articles as information to its readers and makes no attempt to promote any particular position on these issues.

Accountability: NCLB is Pushing Schools in the Right Direction - NCLB is solidifying Bush's position as the "Education President," but the law does have its faults. One of its biggest flaws is an accountability provision that has classified thousands of schools as failing.

Accountability: Discussion of the Effectiveness of the NCLB Policy - W. James Popham writes, "Many U.S. educators now wonder whether they're teachers or targets.” This mentality stems from the specter of their schools being sanctioned for failing the state accountability tests mandated under No Child Left Behind.

Accountability: Improving Schools One Student at a Time - The NCLB model for measuring adequate yearly progress is flawed, because it identifies schools as successful or unsuccessful on the basis of the percentage of students in each grade who have attained the minimum "proficient" level. This ignores individual student progress for students who perform far below or far above that level.

Progress: Implementation of NCLB - A report from the Education Commission of the States tracks how states are progressing on 40 NCLB goals.

Progress: Measured Progress-NCLB -This report by the Education Trust documents that student achievement in reading and math is rising in the elementary grades in most states and achievement gaps are narrowing. In many places, however, the pace of these gains must accelerate dramatically if all students are to meet state standards by 2014.

Teacher Quality: Urgency in Pursuing "Highly Qualified" Goals - According to a report by the National Council on Teacher Quality, most states are doing a poor job of ensuring their teachers will meet NCLB's standard for "highly qualified" by the end of the 2005-06 school year. The report cited Colorado as the only state to require its teachers to either pass a subject matter test or take coursework closely approximating a college major. To view this page you must be a registered user of edweek.org. Registration is free.

Teacher Quality: What Matters Most – While national attention has been riveted on the accountability provisions of NCLB, few in the education community have focused on what matters most to ensure that all students make adequate yearly progress—high-quality teachers. From the Capitol to the classroom, much needs to be done to ensure that NCLB helps all students have access to the knowledgeable teachers they need and deserve.

Teacher Quality: Professional Development in Accountability Systems – Although high-stakes accountability systems help focus professional development efforts on the curricular needs of students, little evidence exists to support the claim that such systems help teachers change their practice to enhance student learning, according to a study from the Southeast Center for Teaching Quality.