Adrianna Bradt Bradt 1

Professor Jan Rieman

English 1103

12/5/10

No Child Left Behind?

Since the No Child Left Behind Act was signed in 2002 by the Bush Administration

many questions have been raised about equality in public school education. Thinking of this

problem led me to wonder why there is an education gap in the United States, what causes it, and

what kind of effects it has on the literacy level of students who have fallen into that gap.

Furthermore, is there a way we, the United States, in a 21st century learning environment can fix

this problem? I chose to explore this problem in various areas of this country, and even tried to

find who is responsible for this problem, if anyone at all.

One of the first things I chose to explore was if one’s socioeconomic background played

a role in education and literacy levels. A 2006 study conducted by The National Center for

Education Statistics found that students from lower income families were four and one-half times

more likely to drop out of high school than their peers of high income families (Laird). These

statistics do not explain why, though, lower income students are more likely to drop out than

higher income students. Raewyn Connell, a professor at the University of Sydney, has studied in

depth about social justice and education. She explains that in countries that have a higher average

of income, “poverty is the effect of unequal distribution, rather than the effect of absolute level

of resources” (14). This could be an explanation of why lower income students have a lower rate
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of graduating, because the public schools they attend may be in poorer areas, and may not have

access to resources that other schools may have. Is it just one’s socioeconomic background, or

did one’s parents and culture they were submerged into play a role too in their success? Betty

Hart and Todd R. Risley were two child psychologists at the University of Kansas that studied

language acquisition and the effects on a child’s success in school. They found that children

whose parents had a higher vocabulary and exposed them to language at an early age, and also

were sensitive and encouraging to their children, were more likely to have higher rates of success

than children whose parents did not have a sophisticated vocabulary and did not encourage them.

For example, the average IQ of children whose parents had professional jobs was 117, and

children whose family was on welfare had an average IQ of 79 (Tough).

After reading the various statistics about graduation rates of students in various locations

and of different backgrounds, I wondered how significant the role of being a teacher, school

administrator, or a parent is in the effort to reduce the education gap. Many researchers believe

that by changing policies, training teachers how to reach low income students, and encouraging

parents to work closely and encourage their students in school would help to increase the

possibility of success in school. Raewyn Connell suggests that part of the problem is the

competitive pressures that current school systems have; for example, “mandatory objective

testing, parental choice plans, and ‘gifted and talented’ programs” are part of how students of

poorer backgrounds are excluded from educational opportunities (23). Possibly by reducing the

amount of seriously competitive programs that schools offer, or by providing ways to encourage

lower income students to reach for these programs, could help close the achievement gap

between students who are more privileged to enter these programs.

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Researchers also suggest that it is important to change what many refer to as

“mainstream” curriculum in schools to help the success rate of lower income and minority

students. The reason why is because many students learn in different ways. Researchers advise

educators to organize a different way for students to learn, without totally changing the content

to help disadvantaged schools. The way teachers connect with their students also plays a large

role in their success (26). Although all these suggestions were provided by Raewyn Connell the

book fails to provide any statistics that really support these ideas.

From the reading I have done from the book, Opportunity Gap: Achievement and

Inequality in Education, it was a common theme that parents played an integral part in the

success of their child in school, whether from a low income or high income family. Parents need

to encourage their child, and help them at any point if they can. Again, this is where it becomes a

problem for low income and minority students whose parents may have not finished in school

and do not have that higher level of education. As I found earlier, parents who use a higher level

of vocabulary with their children at a younger age leads to success later in life. Also parents need

to play a role in the policy making at their child’s school. With the help of administrators,

teachers, and parents working together schools can better their policies to really ensure that no

child is left behind. The educational director of National Heritage Academies in Grand Rapids,

Michigan explains that, “there is a basic subject material that every child regardless of

socioeconomic background should know.” National Heritage Academy is a school that was

recognized by the reporters of a Washington based political magazine, American Enterprise, as a

model school for educational methods for student populations that vary in socioeconomic

backgrounds and race (Wooster).

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Another example I found of a successful public city school was the Frederick Douglas

Academy in Harlem, New York. Though many think this is a private school, it is in fact, a public

school that has a very strict curriculum and policies. This school provides A.P. and multiple

foreign language classes to students. Also, preparation for college begins very early on in a

student’s school career. PSAT preparation begins in seventh grade, and college visits start in

sixth and seventh grade for students. Principal Gregory Hodge stressed how important it was that

students were encouraged to continue their education early in life; he said that they would always

say to students, “You are going to college, you are going to college, you are going to college.” In

addition to high level curriculum, students and guardians had to sign a pledge promising to do

their nightly homework, respect the school building and teachers, and to be prepared every day.

If one of these promises were broken consequences would follow. Most surprisingly for this high

level of public education, funding per-student is only about 8,000 dollars a year (Wooster). To

compare the cost of this school to private schools in the United States I went to the website of a

private catholic school in my hometown of Albany, New York. The Academy of Holy Names, a

prestigious girls only school, on average costs over 12,000 dollars a year for grades nine through

12.

If most public schools were to be run like the Fredrick Douglas Academy in Harlem,

New York the chance of reducing the achievement gap in education would be much higher. I

sincerely believe that this is a perfect example of a school that took inner city students and gave

them every opportunity they could to achieve, not because they wanted to show their school had

the highest test scores but to show their dedication to the success of their students. Even a

suburban school with students mostly in a middle or high class family, like the one I attended,
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would not encourage their students in sixth and seventh grade to be concentrating on which

college they would like to attend.

As I have researched the different public schools that were successful in reducing the

achievement gap I came up with another question. We have the information on the

characteristics of these schools, and examples of what they have done to reduce this problem, but

my new question is how do we get school administrators, educators, and parents to take the time

to invest in this issue? With the research I have done there is not a lot to suggest on how we can

influence these individuals to take the time for this or to care enough about this problem; as what

seems to be important to most public schools now is the average of their student’s standardized

test scores and the graduation rates of students who are already most likely to succeed, as they do

not always require as much extra help as students who are caught in the achievement gap.

As I have researched my inquiry question I still feel as though I am left with more

questions. Although we have all these policies in place, like the No Child Left Behind Act, is

what we are doing now, as a society, truly working in providing quality and equal education to

all students no matter their race or socioeconomic background? And what is working and why?

Do we really know why these certain methods are working, or does it just depend on the student

and the culture of the area they live in? I hope to continue to learn about this topic. When I chose

this inquiry question for this paper I did it because it seemed to be the one that was slightly

interesting to me than anything else I thought about reading and writing. The more I have

researched this topic I found that I am becoming passionate about this issue. As a student who,

although, still had to work hard to get through school and to get to where I am now in college I
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consider myself one of the lucky ones who attended a suburban school in a middle class town

that had access to all the resources we needed to learn. I believe all students should be provided

that opportunity, because it is not hard to tell that how one performs in school is going to have a

significant impact on their future.

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Works Cited

daSilva, Carol eds. Opportunity Gap: Achievement and Inequality in Education.Cambridge, MA:
Harvard College, 2007. Print.
Laird, Jennifer, et al. "Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2006." Dropout and
Completion Rates in the United States: 2006. Sept. 2008: 1-14. SIRS Government
Reporter. Web. 5 Nov 2010.
Tough, Paul. "What It Takes to Make a Student." New York Times Magazine. Nov. 26 2006:
44+. SIRS Researcher. Web. 10 Nov 2010.
“Tuition and Fees.” ahns.org. Academy of the Holy Names, n.d. Web. 4 December 2010
Wamba, Nathalis G. “Poverty and Literacy: An Introduction.” Reading and Writing
Quarterly. October 2010: Vol. 26, Issue 2, 109-114.
Wooster, Martin et al. “Model Schools: 14 Academies that Teach.” American Enterprise.
January 2001: 18-44. SIRS Researcher. Web. 31 October, 2010.