Children with disabilities need a particular attention
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCBA) passed in 2001 is one of the most important reforms in modern education. The main aim of this act is to make education accessible to every child. This act insists on high standards for all children. It provides a flexible program for all children. The American government pays particular attention to children with disabilities. Except for NCBA, there was established a special law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Factually, not only children with disabilities but instructional casualties are taken into account in NCBA. Instructional casualties are these kids who do not have success being taught with the help of educational programs used for all other children. These kids need particular attention.
NCBA and IDEA as the main achievements in modern education
The President and Congress appropriated money for the professional development of teachers to achieve more effective results teaching kids with disabilities. It is quite difficult for teachers to work with these children without professional preparation. Special high education is not meant in this case. Of course, graduating students from the teachers’ training institute are well taught for their occupation but they are not ready to work with such difficult children whose education needs a particular approach. Although NCBA is considered to be a great achievement in the area of education, the President thinks that it is not enough and it is necessary to prepare teachers and present them how to use this activity in the most effective way. Robert Pasternak, Assistant Secretary Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services points out that qualified teachers are in demand nowadays. He highlights that certified teachers do not always mean qualified ones. It is the obligation of the government to take care of this problem and provide teachers a professional training (Pasternack, 2007).
Different types of assessment
There are different types of assessments for students with disabilities. The NCBA provides different types of tests for different categories. Generally speaking, these types of assessments are for the students with disabilities who should not be assessed as the other normal students. There are different types of assessment namely the assessment of children with cognitive disabilities that is based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) connected with grade-level standards but different in difficulty and scope. Another type of assessment is the assessment based on grade-level achievement standards (AA-GLAS) for those students who need to demonstrate their skills and knowledge (Hyun-Jeong, 2011). Nevertheless, there are students who do not correspond to any type of assessment. There are students who are not able to demonstrate good results in general assessment and are assessed inappropriately with the help of AA-AAS. It is one of the main weak points of NCLB. Despite its flexibility, it is quite difficult to practice it on all children. Every child needs particular attention.
Different types of tests
There are two basic types of tests namely internal consistency and split-half tests (Rickett, 2007). They cater to different types of students. Internal consistency is used in AA-AAS and split-off is usually used in AA-GLAS. Nevertheless, there are weak points as far as there is the category of children who need these tests to be combined to demonstrate their skills and knowledge (Borkowsky & Sneed, 2006). That is why as it has been pointed out before it is necessary to be a professional to find a particular type of assessment for every child. Although NCBA has a lot of benefits it should be practiced by qualified teachers to achieve good results.
Reference List
Borkowski, J. & Sneed, M. (2006). Will NCLB Improve or Harm Public Education? Harvard Education Review. Web.
Hyun-Jeong, C. (2011). Capturing Implicit Policy from NCLB Test Type Assignments of Students with Disabilities. Web.
Pasternack, R. (2002). No Child Behind: Implications for Secondary Education and Transition. Web.
Rickett, H. (2007). NCLB Standardized Test Criteria. Web.