No Child Left Behind and Special Ed Essay

This paper is written on the topic â€Å"No Child Left Behind† and how this law pertains to and how it affects special education. This act was passed n 2001 and is abbreviated as NCLB and at times pronounced as nickelbee. This law was proposed by President George W. Bush in 2001 and it is a US federal law. This legislation was base on blueprint and was represented by John Boehner, George Miller, Judd Gregg and Edward Kennedy after which it was signed by President Bush. (Abernathy, 2007). This law was basically aimed to bring improvement in the performance of the primary and the secondary schools in the United States. Moreover, this law also aimed to elevate the standards of the schools making sure that they are provides flexibility in choosing school for their children. It also focused on reading and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was also re-authorized. This Act was introduced during the 107th Congress, was passed by the House of Representatives on May 23, 2001and was actually signed into law by on January 8, 2002. The goal was basically to reform education and to set high standards and to ensure that these goals can be measured and improved. The Act further states that the basic skills must be enacted in the students and schools must receive federal funding. Standards of education are set by every state keeping in mind the control over the schools. Furthermore, this Act also states that the schools must also provide the details of the students such as their name, phone number and address to the military recruiters and institutions of higher education and this must be done unless the parents of that child do not ask the school not to provide any details. After this Act was passed, the measures of the act were fervently debated over its effectiveness. It has also been criticized and the criticism actually was that effective instruction and student learning could be reduced. However, in support of this Act, it is said that systematic testing provides data and so they schools that do not teach the basic skills in an effective manner can be highlighted after which improvement can be made based on the evaluations. This would improve the outcomes for the students and will also minimize the gap of achievement that persists between the students who are disadvantaged in any way. (Hess & Petrilli, 2006). At the time this law was implemented, the federal funding of education was increased by the Congress and the increase was from$42. 2 billion in 2001 to $54. 4 billion in 2007 while No Child Left Behind received a 40. 4% increase from $17. 4 billion in 2001 to $24. 4 billion. Later, the funding for reading quadrupled from $286 million in 2001 to $1. 2 billion. In 2008, a study was carried out by the Department of Education that showed the No Child Left behind Act on which around a billion dollars were invested actually proved to be ineffective. The special education programs were introduced in the United States and they were made compulsory in 1975. This was the time when the Congress passed an Act for the support of the disabled children. This ensures that every disabled student gets free and appropriate education and to apply least restrictions to such students. Moreover, to further enhance and make sure that this Act is being implemented, regular meetings are held between the professionals and the parents of the disable children to ensure that the specific needs of the children are being met and so that modification could be provided for the children who needed them. According to FAPE i. e. Free Appropriate Public Education, the disadvantaged children are to be provided free education at public expenses. They are also directed by the public and no charges are applied. It ensures that the individual needs of the child are met and free education is provided to them from preschool to secondary school education. The FAPE also prevents segregation that is done unnecessarily and to ensure that they have access to the maximum extent. Special education services and special equipment has to be given to the disabled children and a transition plan must be developed. This plan focuses on the future goals of the learner and to help him to live his life in future. Educators also believe that the disabled children should be taught together with the normal children because isolating these children would reduce their self esteem as well as their abilities. This is called mainstreaming i. e. the integration of the disabled and the normal children. However, they also have to have special classrooms and services and must also have a trained teacher. Moreover, the sessions that are held for the special children are called resource rooms that are equipped with all the required material. However, the disabled children can also join other children for other activities and there should be no restriction in it. (Pierangelo, 2004). Reference Abernathy, S. (2007). No Child Left Behind and the Public Schools. University of Michigan Press. Hess, F. M. & Petrilli,M. J. (2006). No Child Left Behind. Peter Lang Publishing. Pierangelo, R. (2004). The Special Educator’s Survival Guide. 2nd Edn. Jossey-Bass.