The No Child Left Behind Act

As with the importance of selecting a highly qualified principal to help raise test scores and closing achievement gaps, the selection and support of staff is also critical. Gregory F. Branch, Eric A. Hanushek, and Steven G. Rivkin’s 2013 study “School Leaders Matter” examined the effectiveness of many principles’ leadership and the effect they had on student achievement ratings. “A primary channel through which principals can be expected to improve the quality of education is by raising the quality of teachers, either by improving the instruction provided by existing teachers or through teacher transitions that improve the caliber of the school’s workforce” (Branch, pg.4). A principal must be able to continually seek out professional development, to research best practices and new educational theories to support their staff and students. If principals are to close the achievement gap, they must be willing to inform and instruct their staff on new teaching strategies. Mr. Canada, from his TED talk, “Our failing schools. Enough is enough!”, states: “You go into a place that has failed kids for fifty years and say: ‘so what’s the plan?’ And they say: ‘Well, we are going to do what we did last year, this year’. What kind of business model is that?” (TED, 2013). The principal willing to venture into new, uncharted waters may succeed or fail, but at least they

The ever-changing landscape of education and school accountability has given rise to a renewed focus on shared leadership. In the past, the principal was viewed as the primary decision maker within a school. However, Glickman (1989) points out that it is impossible for school principals to effectively complete all the necessary instructional and managerial tasks within schools. He contends that some teachers have more leadership abilities than the actual administrators and that “in successful schools, principals aren’t threatened by the wisdom of others, instead, they cherish it by distributing leadership” (Glickman, 1989, p. 8).

The principal should seek and then cultivate human capital - quality teachers and teacher leaders. The principal should also foster conditions that allow teachers to learn from each other “in purposeful, specific ways to improve learning in the school”, that is, develop the school’s social capital. Finally, by fostering expertise in teachers, the principal builds decisional capital - teacher capacity for making wise decisions that improve student learning. (89)

When President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) into law in 2002, the legislation had one goal-- to improve educational equity for all students in the United States by implementing standards for student achievement and school district and teacher performance. Before the No Child Left Behind Act, the program of study for most schools was developed and implemented by individual states and local communities’ school boards. Proponents of the NCLB believed that lax oversight and lack of measurable standards by state and local communities was leading to the failure of the education system and required federal government intervention to correct. At the time, the Act seemed to be what the American educational system

To ensure that matters are handled in a proper and timely manner. Power is distributed throughout the school to principals, vice principals other administrators, teachers, and teachers aides. Principals have the ultimate authority in the schools. Although power is shared in schools control of power is not equal. Nonetheless everyone’s voice is important and needs to make the school more efficient.

Control of the public education system has been left to the State for most of the country’s history, it was not until the 1950’s that the federal government played a role in categorical programs, but the national government refrained from involvement in academics until the 90’s. Three days after taking up his position in office, George Bush announced his plan for the No Child Left Behind act (NCLB) which was a consolidated reform of the 1962 Elementary and Secondary Education Act or ESEA (McGuinn, p. 1). ESEA focused on providing resources for the underprivileged students, whereas the NCLB act focuses on all students in public schools. On January 8, 2002, the No Child Left Behind act was enacted. The

In our school, the principal is the head of our organization and since she does not have an Assistant Principal, is the head all alone. She has been principal for 10+ years at the same establishment and loves every day. She stresses to her staff the importance of student safety, student achievement, parental

The idea of the no child left behind act also known as NCLB was establish and signed into law on January 8, 2002 by former president George W. Bush which was actually supported by both of the political parties. The entire role of the No Child Left Behind act was to ensure the focus of American students to the better idea of getting the American educational system back into the competitive field internationally seeing that in the year 2002 the United States of America was actually ranked number eighteen out of the entire twenty four nations. The No Child Left Behind law has mad a huge break through Americas entire educational system. The NCLB law has given a much greater deal of attention to the way things are being done in the classroom and how it prepared for the classroom which is a important factor in bring America as a country to a much high number in the list of education throughout the world.

For decades educational reform has been a top priority in the United States. For years, federal and state governments have been working together on legislation that would improve education standards. Many systems have been created in that time period with President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) being one of the most recent reforms. NCLB seemed insufficient over time and led to the most recent reform in education, Common Core Standards that were released in 2010 by state governors and superintendents. Since its origination, Common Core Standards have been a controversial implementation across the nation.

The No Child Left Behind Act was proposed in the mid-1990’s, however; it was not until June 2001 when it got voted on, shortly after President George W. Bush signed in to law in January 2002. The No Child Left Behind Act was popular spite it’s many flaws. NCLB had strong intentions, however, there were many underlying issues that were not recognized until the act was put in to action.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a “landmark in education reform designed to improve student achievement and change the culture of America’s schools” (ED.gov). The new act encourages accountability and helps abolish inequality in education.

There needs to be at least 50 participants chosen for this study. A sample of convenience was used which limited the scope of the study to high poverty and low poverty schools in the South Carolina Lowcountry. These participants were all South Carolina certified teachers in multiple secondary disciplines. Teachers who had only been employed for one year were not included in the study because it is possible they did not have enough personal experience with their current principal to accurately determine their leadership behaviors. This was done to protect the integrity of the study and to gain an accurate depiction of the principal’s leadership behaviors over time. This exclusion also ensures that answers to the school climate survey are referencing the perception of the school climate from a perspective of a person that has experienced it for a significant period of time.

According to the authors of this article (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009), principals need to concentrate on the development of skills and behaviors in order to be successful in motivating, leading, and changing the direction of a school. The successful principal understands that there exists a fine balance of caring for others and the need to accomplish specific tasks (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009).

Effective school leadership today must combine the traditional school leadership duties such as teacher evaluation, budgeting, scheduling, and facilities maintenance with a deep involvement with specific aspects of teaching and learning. Effective instructional leaders are intensely involved in curricular and instructional issues that directly affect student achievement (Cotton, 2003). The writer of this paper acknowledges that school principals should play the role of instructional leaders, not just a school manager. The reality is that are many demands on a principals time and management skills making it difficult for most of them to spend time in classrooms, when performing teacher evaluation. Principals often make sure that teachers

The concept and practice of teacher leadership have gained momentum in the past two decades. Teachers are assuming more leadership functions at both instructional and organizational levels of practice. Empirical literature reveals effects of teacher leadership practice, teacher leader characteristics, and conditions that promote and challenge teacher leadership.