Friday, August 29, 2008

How Does No Child Left Behind Effect Charter Schools?

Looking into the document No Child Left Behind and Charter Schools I learned how a charter school is effects by the NCLB act. I attend a charter school and have always felt exempt from the controversies of public school. The battle of authorizing and reauthorizing NCLB is one of these dilemmas. The schism between legislators for and against NCLB grows as alternative solutions are discussed. There is much discussion of the nuts and bolts of this 6 year old act and this is where the dissagreements arise from. Much like analysing and finding loopholes in the constitution the fedral goverment spends plenty of time looking into everything this document includes. As for charter schools there is an obvious inclusion of them into NCLB, after all, a charter school is still a public school and belongs to a school discrict. As a student I would gain the benefits and feel the retributions of NCLB just as any other student would, for the most part, according to this document. This exemption is how charter schools' charters have precident over this goverment act, therefore the school's goals may differ from those of NCLB. Title I is a part of NCLB that expresses the accountabilitity of schools to provide a proper education. This accountability can be expressed in standardized test scores and AYP requirements. I was a little confused about all this legislative jargon but it is obvious that the answers to my questions are burried somewhere the facts and the specific regulations of NCLB.

Looking to research more I am curious to:
1) What are the specific requirements of NCLB, in terms I can understand?
2) What does our goverment think of NCBL at this time and are there any alternatives out there?

No Child Left Behind Initial Reseach Blog

After reading and analyzing Pros & Cons of the No Child Left Behind Act (url: http://usliberals.about.com/od/education/i/NCLBProsCons.htm) I gained a better understanding on the effects of reauthorizing the act. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates a set number of programs designed to help school districts. I feel this could be useful to school in need of a format that allows its students to excel. Through a carefully designed plan this act could make our nations education system benefit through uniformity and authority. In some ways a government standardized system in place in our schools may be disheartening, but I feel in the long run it would eliminate problems in districts failing to meet the nation standards already in place. Although I attend a charter school and the NCLB funding would be directed towards other educational programs and systems, I can still relate to the effects this act has on students. By standardizing the education in a district more tests need to be taken and those tests can be biased and overwhelming. I feel that before reinstating the act there would need to be strides taken to reform the process in which students are to be assessed.

This was one article and did not answer every question I had. As I continue my research is still want to know:
1) Where is the NCLB act now, is it not in place?
2) If not what are the goals of the legislators attempting to reauthorize the act?
3) As a charter school still involved in a school district would there be any effects of the NCLB act on me?