Variables and No Child Left Behind

What Are Variables:

Variables are used to create categories. Basically they are things that vary:

• test scores
• attendance rates--teacher, student
• classroom disruptions
• ethnic mixture in a school
• socioeconomic mixture in a school
• height
• weight
• dropout rate
• teacher turnover rate
• distance between pupils of the eyes
• slope of the forehead
• etc.

No Child Left Behind 

No Child Left Behind, or previously known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act(1965), was originally implemented to provide a more balanced budget between schools that service affluent communities and those which service communities of poverty. 
Currently schools must meet AYP and produce data through standardized testing that shows student growth.  
The purpose of ESEA was to improve the overall quality of education in the United States; however, even with multiple additions to the policy from 1965 ESEA to the current No Child Left Behind, I feel that many schools slip between the cracks and are allotted waivers.  Is it fair to put this policy in to place and then give waivers to the very schools that need the most improvements.  By giving waivers, are these schools getting the funding needed to improve? The following information was taken from the New American Foundation website, which offers a background and analysis of NCLB.  

"NCLB required states, school districts, and schools to ensure all students are proficient in grade-level math and reading by 2014. States define grade-level performance. Schools must make "adequate yearly progress" toward this goal, whereby proficiency rates increase in the years leading up to 2014. The rate of increase required is chosen by each state. In order for a school to make adequate yearly progress (AYP), it must meet its targets for student reading and math proficiency each year. A state’s total student proficiency rate and the rate achieved by student subgroups are all considered in the AYP determination."

 Variables of Concern Under the No Child Left Behind

•  grade
• ethnicity
• special education status
• free and reduced-price meal eligibility
• English language learner status
• percent of students taking the test
• math scores
• reading scores
• science scores
• percent of "proficient" students
• percent of high school graduates
• percent of "highly qualified" teachers
• adequate yearly progress