Mallory Malesky

I began the long wiritng process with a general idea about No Child Left Behind and assessment testing. When I began I had a much bigger picture in mind, in fear that I wouldn’t be able to fill 10-12 pages with information. I chose this topic because I feel strongly about getting rid of assessment testing and the whole “adequate yearly progress” concept. I was lucky enough to come out of high school rather un-effected by PSSAs. At my high school you had to pass them to graduate, and if you didn’t your 11th grade year, you were put into the PSSA reading or math class. I passed, and I really don’t know anyone that didn’t, but after hearing the stories from my friends’ younger siblings about how the elementary and middle schools were becoming like boot camps for PSSAs, I felt bad for them. They seemed to be missing out on a lot of good experiences I had in school. So I chose my topic broadly, as No Child Left Behind to see where it would take me. Although the “digital dimension” wasn’t going to be a huge part of the paper, I knew I could incorporate it somehow. I started with developing a small outline of my topic, that included some of the areas I could have covered. This can be seen in my Topic Development Blog.
After starting off with the topic development assignment, I narrowed my research question (blog post), and then revised it (blog post). Then it was time for the Research Proposal. In it, my abstract states that the main focus of the paper will be looking at the negative consequences of too much assessment testing, and more specifically, teaching for the test. As I researched this term (”teaching for the test”) over and over again, I found nothing but what it means and how it relates to standardized testing. I was able to use some of this information to show why standardized testing is bad, but it didn’t get me anywhere as far as showing how it is effecting a student. Some of these early sources can be seen in my Topics and Sources post. Although I was having trouble finding online and scholarly sources, I knew that my primary research attempt would be easy. I decided to develop a survey to send to my elementary, middle, and high school teachers. The survey asked basic questions and opinions about the PSSAs and how their classroom environment has changed becasue of the increased emphasis on testing. The survey is posted in this blog entry.
Moving along in the writing process, I developed a rough draft, and then later a full draft. Between these two drafts, I think the major difference is the amount of content and how I describe it. As I kept writing and working towards the final copy, I was able to find more information which helped to mold more solid opinions. After the full draft was due, I took Dr. Sherwood’s comments into consideration as I was finishing my paper. I feel that this paper reflects my ability as a writer well. I took a lot of sources into consideration to make my argument against assesment testing stronger. I think that I used a good balence of sources and opinions, results, and summaries. There are some parts where I could have continued or expanded on a quotation, however some of those sources also explained exactly what I was thinking. Between the first few drafts and my final paper, I was able to use all of my sources to frame and support a lot of my own opinions, summaries, and thesis.
I think that in the paper, I used sources in a variety of ways. Some were quotations, some were informational, and some were paraphrased. I think my parenthetical citation was used correctly, however there probably were some mistakes with my works cited pages. If I were to grade this paper in terms of Content, Organization, Mechanics, and Revision the scores would be: 9, 10, 9, and 8 respectively.

I’m going to start off by saying that I couldn’t imagine taking a research writing class without the opportunity to use computers on a daily basis. Even in high school when I had a research paper due, we would go to the library to use the few computers we did have at least three times a week. I so relieved when I realized this section of 202 would be using computers on a daily basis because if I had to sit there and take notes about this, I don’t think I would have came to class very often. However, in this class we were able to actively participate everyday with the exercises and websites Dr. Sherwood was showing us. When it was time to start the writing process, we were able to use class time to research and write with the professor being right on hand to answer any questions. I think this beats out learning in class, then going to the library to research, then starting to write at home or in the lab with no help or feedback. I also liked using the blog, especially when we had to comment on other people’s entries. I think that Dr. Sherwood should have also required us to comment after we started posting things about our research papers, because it would have been beneficial to everyone. Also, by having the opportunity to work everyday it minimizes procrastination, at least in my opinion. I’m a HUGE procrastinator, and I was able to meet all the deadlines without staying up until 3 am the night before finishing a draft. The class website was also extremely helpful in keeping us on task. It was nice to be able to look up what we did in class or what needs to be handed in for homework from home because I tend to forget things like that. Also, all the links Dr. Sherwood posted were right there available to us whenever we needed to reference something.
As far as learning something new about digital resources, I don’t feel that I really did, just because I’ve always used the internet as a primary source for information, especially for my writing. It’s so easy just to Google something and get a ton of results to use in a paper. I can honestly say that the last time I went and looked for a book to use in a paper was in high school. I think that most college students are the same way for writing assignments, unless it is something very specific that may deal with an upper level class. A tool I learned about in this class was Zotero. Although I didn’t use it that much for this paper, but I think it is a handy tool that I may need to use in the future.
After reading the article on the Chronicle, I don’t really agree with it. Yes, this generation is perhaps not reading as many books as previous generations, but that is because there are so many other forms of entertainment that I feel are more stimulating to the mass audience. Also, most of us have been forced to read books as assignments for school, and most of the time these books are so boring that it makes us turn the other cheek to any books we may encounter in the future. Books were pretty much the first source of information and entertainment, and naturally better mediums were invented. Today’s generation, I feel, is just embracing all of the options we have to be entertained and informed. Weather it be a book, movie, television, or the internet, people chose the one that works the best for them.
Overall, I really enjoyed this class. The only thing I did not like was the emphasis on “digital culture” for our writing prompts and paper. I think students should have a little more freedom in deciding what topic they wish to research and write about. Which is what I did, but just because I don’t find facebook and myspace that interesting. However, sometimes it is hard to pick a topic, so having a general topic idea probably was helpful to some people in class. Some people may have almost liked it a lot, but that’s just my opinion. I would recommend this class to friends not just because of the digital dimension, but because I feel that Dr. Sherwood didn’t fill the class with useless information and busy work. I think everything we did prior to writing the final copies of our paper was beneficial to the writing process.

I think that the revision process was one of the biggest parts to this writing project. I think that I continued to revise throughout the entire writing process, because that’s how I tend to write. Looking at my draft from November 2, I had a lot of solid information (that ended up staying in my final copy). However, the information was not discussed well, and it did not tie into my introduction. As I said in the previous blog entry, narrowing my question really helped to get the revision process moving faster. After I knew my solid question, I was able to throw out the information that wasn’t needed.
From the beginning, I had some really great sources that I could include in my paper. Some of them needed more explanation, and perhaps more sources to validate my opinion. Although I came to a road block as far as search terms at one point, after the draft was due, Dr. Sherwood’s search term suggestions helped me a lot. Some of these can be seen in my Revision Plans. I was actually able to find a good “scholarly” article to include because I was lacking one. In order to tie my sources together in the body, and to the introduction, I needed to use transitions. I chose to separate my paper with subheadings because I like it, and it breaks up the paper into sections so that the reader will not get confused. I also like using headings because transitions can get boring and repetitive when you are trying to connect paragraphs that really don’t flow well. However, the transition revision exercise we did in class helped me to transition parts of my body that needed extra help.
Along with transition revisions, changing sentence structure, taking out the “fluff”, and looking at my sources, my introduction and conclusion were primary areas of concern for my revision. I chose to wait until I was done with the body to worry about my introduction and conclusion. I think this helped because the body of the paper had all the information that was going to support my intro, and also set up the conclusion. I think that my introduction changed quite a bit from my November 2 draft until my final copy. As for my conclusion, I was really struggling to come up with one in my draft. It wasn’t until after I revised my intro and body that I was able to write the conclusion that ended up in my paper.
For the process of revising my introduction and conclusion, the most helpful activity was comments and suggestions from Dr. Sherwood and classmates Jaci and Peter. Having another opinion from an actual audience really helped me to understand what I needed to add/delete from my paper in order to have a strong intro and conclusion.
I think I could have better narrated some of my sources and quotations in the body of the paper. Sometimes I feel that if a quote is long enough it speaks for itself. When I looked over my final paper in print, I noticed some things I wanted to change again, but I didn’t have enough time. There were a few places where I felt some personal narration would have been a good addition and helped me to make my point a little more clear. I tried not to use quotes that needed a lot of explanation though because of this reason. Somewhere along the line I must have been taught not to over-analyze information in a paper and to take sources just as they are. Unfortunately, this has stuck with me. However, I think that by having due dates of first drafts, full drafts, etc. really helped to make revision an easier process, because it is usually hard for me. Overall I think the most changes were made to my introduction and conclusion, and the transition material between sources.

My topic of research could have lead me on a lot of different paths. So much information was available about No Child Left Behind and there were so many opinions online. The information I wanted to get specifically was how assessment testing was affecting students today, and what it will do to their future. The future part was mainly up to my opinion, which I ended up forming after reading article after article. This is because the effects of assessment testing cannot be measured yet fully because NCLB has only been in place for six years. However, I found many cases to show that assessment testing is negatively affecting students today.
Referring back to my blog post on October 8, I start to frame my research question. I started out with this question, Does ‘teaching for the test’, and focusing less on subjects other than Math, Reading, and Science negatively effect a child’s over-all learning experience? The types of evidence I wanted to use to support my opinion that the answer to the question is yes were: less time on non-core subjects will not produce a well-rounded student, non-core subjects are important, and for all students to do well on assessment testing, teaching to the test is necessary because there are MANY students with disabilities.
I feel that this blog post and narrowing my question really helped me to get on track for my final draft. As I researched more, I found more evidence showing why assessments are bad, how constant testing is causing test anxiety in students, how students are in programs spending even more time in school to learn reading and math after hours, etc. The number of articles I found ended up being enough to work a paper around. I decided to disregard the whole topic of students with disabilities because there was also a ton of information on that. I felt that if I tried to condense both broad topics into my paper that it would be too much summarizing and not enough solid information. I still feel very strongly that not every child will ever be able to perform at 100% proficiency on a state assessment, no matter how much extra tutoring they receive. But, I cut that part completely out of my paper.
The narrowing of my topic also helped to condense my introduction into only information I felt was necessary to the body of the paper. Even though I know Dr. Sherwood is the only one reading it, and I’m sure he understands NCLB pretty well, if someone else with little to no understanding of the law were to read it, they would need the information I presented in the intro.
Choosing sources was somewhat hard for me. Refining a search term on Google was the hardest part I think. Somehow, I managed to re-work words and phrases to search for and ended up finding some fantastic articles. Once I narrowed my question and decided to look only at assessment pros and cons, it was easier to find articles. Most of the articles I used were from newspapers, or written by teachers and other educators.
Looking back on the entire process, I knew what I wanted to write about from the beginning; however I had a huge idea in my head that could have been two research papers. I think that narrowing my question and focusing on one part of NCLB really helped me to progress with my paper and be more productive. If I would have been searching and writing about both parts (assessments and disabilities) I would have been lost in information.

I had to read this article for my Anthro. class, and thought it was kind of interesting. Just thought I would leave it up here if anyone needed/wanted to read it.

http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/Computing/Articles+ResearchPapers/gender-swapping

-Under the “State Involvement” section, I want to include PA’s specific policy about state assesments, the PSSAs, and what rewards/punishments are in place for preformance on the test. This will tie into my case study at the end of the paper becasue it is about a PA school district.

-In the “problems with the test” section, I’m going to exam specific test taking practices and what exactly the “cirteria” is for the subjects/grade levels. I’ve looked this information up before from the PA Dept. of Ed. and it’s very lengthy, that’s why I didn’t include it. I will have to summarize it somehow….?

-Thanks to Dr. Sherwood, I think I found some search terms I can use…
“testing culture”
“learning that is devaluved: Imagination and non-core subjects”
I’ve been trying SO HARD to find studies or opinions or anything about how students and teachers feel about this kind of thing, and I can’t. Hopefully these terms will allow me to broaden my body, and support my main point.

-I also need to explain why spending insane amounts of time in school is bad for kids… It’s just not fair!!! haha

-The final thing I want to add it a short section about “what tommorow holds” for these students. Like is the education system really teaching them valuable things by all this testing and emphasis on math, reading, and science? How is it going to effect their future????

**I’m still waiting to get my surveys back in the mail, I asked for them to be back by Nov. 9, so I shouldn’t be wiating much longer. After I get them I think it will really help me to push foward and draw conclusions and fill in the blank spaces my paper has….

1.
Old
Although this quotation is opinionated, the issues raised in it are valid. For all children to score within the top twenty-fifth percentile is far out of reach. Only then, would the teaching of “advanced subjects” be able to occur. Is this going to happen in less than twelve years? Will every child in America be on the same level of learning? Perhaps, if all the time in school is spent learning the core subjects and the material they are tested on. School districts, and the government are making it possible for even more time to be spent on the core subjects. A special part of the No Child Left Behind law is a program called Reading-First. Reading-First is implemented by many schools across the nation. On average, these students receive 100 more minutes per week on reading than schools that do not use the program (Ed.gov). This program provides help in reading to students who need it, and those who don’t.
The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), is implemented in 17 states. KIPP schools are free, college-preparatory schools mostly attended by “underserved” students to prepare them to excel in high school and college. One of the main goals of KIPP is more time, which is obtained when “students are in school learning 60 percent more than average public school students, typically from 7:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, every other Saturday, and for three weeks during the summer.” (About KIPP). They are “preparing” these students with more time in the classrooms than their parents spend at their jobs, and far more than a college student spends in the classroom. The KIPP program also focuses primarily on the core subjects.

Revised:
Another program advocating more time in the classroom is, …..

2.
Old
(This sentence is directly after the above paragraph about KIPP)
Another example, comes from Pittsburgh where in 2006, [quote]

New
Similarily, a school district in Pittsburgh implemented a program in 2006.

3.
Old
What will losing time that used to be spent learning history, art, music, and foreign languages do to a child’s learning experience? Spending time on only core-subjects does not leave room to foster thoughts and imagination in children. Specifically, the arts which also help students learn discipline and problem solving, just to name a few educational benefits. Jane Alexander, former NEA chair quotes “Children learn better with arts as part of the curriculum. They learn all their subjects better. They’re more engaged. Teacher attendance goes up. The child is happier; the teacher is happier.” (Saving)

New
Although extra time may be needed for students to preform at the proficient level on state assesment tests, they are losing classroom time learning about other subjects. What effect will this have on young students? Spending time….

Mallory Malesky
2 November 2007
Research Essay Draft
ENGL 202 – 9:05 am
Dr. Sherwood
Teaching For The Test, But Not For Tomorrow

No Child Left Behind
“The purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and read, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state assessments.” This excerpt comes from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, passed under the Bush Administration. The act was passed in order to reform public schools in the nation and set a series of standards for all students. The act wants every child, regardless of economic status, race, or other disabilities to be able to have the same education opportunities of students without disadvantages. Another purpose of the act is to close the “achievement gap” between certain groups of students. Section 1001 (3) of the law states that these groups would consist of: “low and high ahcieveing students, minority and non-minority student, and advantaged and disadvantaged students.” In order to close the gap, school districts are expected to set up a twelve year plan to bring all of their students up to the state level of profiency. School districts will use the test scores from the 2001-2002 school year as the baseline, and then set up a yearly plan, or timeline, for improvement. There are also consequences in place for failure to improve or meet the deadlines on the timeline. Improvement is also called “adequate yearly progress”, and is measured by scores on assessment tests, administered by the state. Although the state has control of what type of test it will use, the law requires all elementary and secondary school children to be assessed on the subjects of Reading, Math, and by the 2007-2008 school year, Science.
Assessments
Most assessments are set up as standards-based tests. The state board of education sets a criteria of standards for the tested subjects. They expect the students to be able to perform the certain criteria at a certain level. (These both vary by state.) The law calls for these assessments to contain: “Challenging academic content standards in academic subjects that- i) specify what children are expected to know and able to do, ii) contain coherent and rigorous content, iii) encourage the teaching of advanced skills.” According to Twitchell, “…students are measured not against each other, but against these clearly stated performance objectives. Therefore, it is possible for ALL students to perform well.”
Standards-based testing calls for standards-based teaching. The teachers set up a class objective and a pre-determined grading method. The students are responsible for learning the material presented in the objective. There should be no “surprises” with standards-based teaching (Twitchell). Meaning, that a student should never take a test and be able to say “I didn’t know this material would be on the exam.” Because school districts are forced to bring up their scores, many teachers find themselves moving towards standards-based teaching, also known as “teaching for the test”. In classrooms where this is prevalent, only the material that will be on the assessment test is covered, or more time is spent on that material. This has caused problems for schools and educators across the country.
State Involvement
Prior to the NCLB law, states and schools had the right to exclude students with economic disadvantages, disabilities, and limited English profiency from their average test scores (Wenning, Et. Al). This was done in an attempt to look better on paper, or to lessen the pressure of assessment test scores on those children. The new law does not allow for these students scores to be excluded from the average. They must be accounted for, and they must be showing improvement as well. Special cases are accounted for, such as English language learners, but the students are still expected to master the material on the assessment.
[I want to include an example of PA’s system, and what ‘punishments’ are in place for schools who fail to meet AYP. How much/less do you think I should address this? A basic summary, or a more detailed version?]

Problems With The Test
Assessment tests, or standardized tests cause stress for school districts, teachers, parents, and students. Because schools are so concerned with their students improving on the test, they may over look the stressors placed on the students. “Test anxiety” may be common among college students, but you never really think of students in high school, or even elementary school having it. Due to the intense emphasis on passing the assessment tests, test anxiety is becoming more prevalent with students. In Texas, “Parents report that the kids have a higher number of stomach aches and other stress-related illnesses on test days.” (Standardized) Students feel a lot of pressure to pass the test because they are made to feel that it is the most important part of their schooling. “Years of test taking has caused students to believe that good grades are more important than understanding (Tobin**).” Students who would be conventionally considered above average, or average now feel that they only need to learn and study the material they will be tested on so, that they can obtain a high score. They do not focus on other material in the class, simply because they know it won’t be on the test. This is the opposite of what NCLB is advocating. Students do not show a desire to learn more, or master the whole concept of the subject
Classroom Time
Part iii of the excerpt from the law (above) states that the assessment should “encourage the teaching of advanced subjects”. It seems that when a standards-based curriculum is implemented, it does not provide enough time to teach advanced subjects. Because students learn at different paces, teachers have to allot enough time for all of the students to master the material on the assessment.
*NCLB proposes to accomplish a statistical impossibility (that all children score in the top twenty-fifth percentile); it raises false expectations; it’s built on an illusion that tests alone can–and should–measure worthwhile standards; that schools can do it all; that progress comes in steady increments; that penalties will motivate children and teachers; that lack of money is a mere excuse; that a single nationwide system is part of the American dream; and, finally, that schools can do it all. The law literally dictates the books we are allowed to use on a national basis, not to mention the pedagogy for teaching literacy and, coming soon, math. Before long, until eighth grade, little else will get taught at all. (Meier)

Although this quotation is opinionated, the issues raised in it are valid. For all children to score within the top twenty-fifth percentile is far out of reach. Only then, would the teaching of “advanced subjects” be able to occur. Is this going to happen in less than twelve years? Will every child in America be on the same level of learning? Perhaps, if all the time in school is spent learning the core subjects and the material they are tested on. School districts, and the government are making it possible for even more time to be spent on the core subjects. A special part of the No Child Left Behind law is a program called Reading-First. Reading-First is implemented by many schools across the nation. On average, these students receive 100 more minutes per week on reading than schools that do not use the program (Ed.gov). This program provides help in reading to students who need it, and those who don’t.
The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), is implemented in 17 states. KIPP schools are free, college-preparatory schools mostly attended by “underserved” students to prepare them to excel in high school and college. One of the main goals of KIPP is more time, which is obtained when “students are in school learning 60 percent more than average public school students, typically from 7:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, every other Saturday, and for three weeks during the summer.” (About KIPP). They are “preparing” these students with more time in the classrooms than their parents spend at their jobs, and far more than a college student spends in the classroom. The KIPP program also focuses primarily on the core subjects.
Another example, comes from Pittsburgh where in 2006,
“The district on Aug. 21 opened eight accelerated learning academies, many of them in disadvantaged neighborhoods, with a longer school day, an extended school year and increased class time for literacy and math. Each day, the schools will provide 2 1/2 hours of highly structured literacy instruction — 30 minutes of skills development and an hour each of reading and writing — to students in kindergarten through grade three. Ninety-minute daily “ramp-up” courses will be provided to students performing two or more years below grade level.” (Smydo) All of these examples show how much time is being dedicated to learning the core-subjects. This falls at the expense of the non-tested subjects. In one study done at Boston College, findings show that “More elementary and middle school teachers than high school teachers reported that they increased the amount of time spent on tested areas and decreased the time spent on non-core subject areas and on other activities.” (Pedulla, et al)
What will losing time that used to be spent learning history, art, music, and foreign languages do to a child’s learning experience? Spending time on only core-subjects does not leave room to foster thoughts and imagination in children. Specifically, the arts which also help students learn discipline and problem solving, just to name a few educational benefits. Jane Alexander, former NEA chair quotes “Children learn better with arts as part of the curriculum. They learn all their subjects better. They’re more engaged. Teacher attendance goes up. The child is happier; the teacher is happier.” (Saving)
Case Study
The Albert Gallatin Area School District is located in Fayette County, PA. The district ranges four townships, and is made up of six elementary schools, two middle schools, and a senior high school. Of it’s almost 4000 students, the amount of students coming from low income families is more than 50%. (PA Dept. of Ed.) For the 2006-2007 school year, two of its elementary schools, one of its middle schools and the high school did not meet their AYP target and were placed on a warning. (Academic)
A survey was given to teachers at one elementary, one middle, and the high school. Their were two surveys, one for core subject teachers, and another for non-core subject teachers. These are located in the appendix.
[Summary of results, Quotes. 1½ - 2 Pages]
Conclusion
Although No Child Left Behind is attempting to do something that would benefit many children, it is far from our reach at this point in time. Students are faced with immense pressures at a young age to achieve a goal mandated on them by the government. Not every child will grow up to be a brain surgeon, or a rocket scientist. The children who don’t like school, or who are just below average will grow up and get a job doing something that benefits society. A mechanic doesn’t have to understand how to use the quadratic formula, but his job is vitally important to his community. The time spent in school should be spent learning and fostering ideas so that upon graduating high school, children have the opportunity to become what they want to be, college education or not. A child should have the right to learn about all subjects, and not be stressed to perform at a level with everyone else on only three subjects. A child should be able to participate in sports, activities, field trips to encourage them to learn about things on their own.

**I’m also really struggling with brining together this information. I also need more information about why the non-core subjects are important. Also, my conclusion is horrible… I need help here. It will come together more after my summary results, but right now I’m struggling.

**Question:That quote from Tobin** was actually a quote, from someone else in his article, how would I site that in my text. For now, I’m leaving it as Tobin.

Works Cited
About KIPP, Five Pillars. Knowledge is Power Program. 15 Oct. 2007.

“Albert Gallatin Area SD” PA Department of Education Academic Acheievment Report 2006-2007. 15 Oct 2007.

“Albert Gallatin SD.” PA Department of Education. 10 Oct 2007.

Meier, Deborah. “No Politician Left Behind.” The Nation. 27 May 2004. 15 Oct 2007.

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. no. 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425 (2001).
< http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/107-110.pdf>

Pedulla, Joesph, et al. “Percieved Effetcs of State-Mandated Testing Programs on Teaching and Learning: Findings From a National Survey of Teachers.” National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy, Boston College. March 2003. 15 Oct. 2007.

“Saving The Arts.” The Merrow Report. 15 Oct 2007.

Smydo, Joe. “No Child Left Behind has altered the face of education.” Pittsburgh Post Gazette. 28 Aug 2006. 15 Oct 2007.

Swimming Kangaroo. “Standardized Testing: Is It Good For Education?” Publisher’s Blog. 25 June 2006. 15 Oct 2007.

Tobin, Jeff. “Psychologist says standardized tests undermine a child’s ability to learn.” Santa Cruz Sentinel. 14 Aug 2005. 15 Oct 2007.

Twitchell, Brian A. “Standardized va. Standards-Based Tests.” Articles For Educators. 10 Oct 2007.
US Department of Education. 10 Oct 2007.

Wenning, Richard, et al. “No Child Left Behind: Testing, Reporting, and Accountability.” ERIC Digest. Aug 2003. 10 Oct 2007.

Intro:

“The purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and read, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments.”

This excerpt comes from the No Child Left Behind Act, passed in 2001 under the Bush Administration. The act was passed in order to reform public schools in the nation and set a series of standards for all students. The act wants every child, regardless of economic status, race, or other disabilities to be able to have the same education opportunities.
Another purpose of the law is an attempt to close the “achievement gap” between groups of students. Section 1001 (3) of the law states that these groups would consist of: “low and high ahcieveing students, minority and non-minority student, and advantaged and disadvantaged students.” In order to close the gap, school districts are expected to set up a twelve year plan to bring their students up to the state level of profiency. School districts will use the test scores from the 2001-2002 school year, and then set up a yearly plan, or timeline for improvement. There are also consequences in place for failure to improve or follow the deadlines on the timeline. Improvement is also called “adequate yearly progress”, and is measured by assessment tests. The tests are implemented by the state. Although the state has control of what type of test it will use, the law requires all elementary and secondary school children to be assessed on the subjects of Reading, Math, and by the 2007-2008 school year, Science.
The assessments are set up as standards-based tests. The state board of education sets a criteria of standards for the tested subjects. They expect the students to be able to perform the certain criteria at a certain level. (These both vary by state.) The law calls for these assessments to contain:
“Challenging academic content standards in academic subjects that-
specify what children are expected to know and able to do.
contain coherent and rigorous content.
encourage the teaching of advanced skills.”
According to Twitchell, “…students are measured not against each other, but against these clearly stated performance objectives. Therefore, it is possible for ALL students to perform well.”
Standards-based testing calls for standards-based teaching. The teachers set up a class objective and a pre-determined grading method. The students are responsible for learning the material presented in the objective. There should be no “suprises” with standards-based teaching (Twitchell). Meaning that a student should never take a test and be able to say “I didn’t know this material would be on the exam.” Because school districts are forced to bring up their scores, many teachers find themselves moving towards standards-based teaching, also known as “teaching for the test”. In classrooms where this is prevelant, only the material that will be on the assessment test is covered, or more time is spent on that material. This has caused problems for schools and educators across the country.

………
Prior to the NCLB law, states and schools had the right to exclude students with economic disadvantages, disabilities, and limited English profiency from their average test scores (Wenning, Et. Al). This was done in an attempt to look better on paper, or to lessen the pressure of assessment test scores on those children. The new law does not allow for these students scores to be excluded from the average. They must be accounted for, and they must be showing improvement as well. Special cases are accounted for, such as English language learners, but the students are still expected to master the material on the assessment

Body:

Assesment tests, or standardized tests cause stess for school districts, teachers, parents, and students. Because schools are so concerned with their students improving on the test, they may over look the stressors placed on the students. “Test anxiety” may be common among college students, but you never really think of students in high school, or even elementary school having it. Due to the intense emphasis on passing the assesment tests, test anxiety is becoming more prevalent with students. They feel a lot of pressure to pass they test. “Years of test taking has caused students to believe that good grades are more important than understanding (Tobin**).” Students who would be conventionally considered above average, or average now fall into a category where they learn/study only the material they will be tested on so that they can obtain a high score. They do not focus on other material in the class, simply beacuse they know it won’t be on the test. This seems to be the opposite of what NCLB is advocating. Students do not show a desire to learn more, or master the whole concept of the subject.
Part iii of the excerpt from the law above states that the assessment should “encourage the teaching of advanced subjects”. It seems that when a standards-based curriculum is implemented, it does not provide enough time to teach advanced subjects. The teachers must go at a slower pace for the students who do not learn as fast. This does not allow the average and above average students to learn “advanced concepts”, or in general, more material than needed to pass the exam.
Because teachers have to spend more time in certian areas to make sure the students that are having problems understand the material, the students who do understand it are loosing valuable instruction time. This creates a delicate balancing act for teachers.

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**I had something going here with “part iii” but I moved it up…now I have a good paragraph, but I don’t know where to go with it. I’m just going to leave it until I can figure out what to do with it.
This places a great amount of burden on teachers. Not only are they expected to get their students at a level of mastery of the material on the test, but they also have to teach advanced subjects. How do they find the time? In most schools across the nation, equal time periods are allotted for each subject taught in a certain grade. Special time is set aside for subjects like Music, Art, Physical Education. Because more time is being spent on Reading, Math, and Science to comply with state assessment standards, the other subjects are loosing classroom time. A special part of the No Child Left Behind law is a program called Reading-First. Reading-First is implemented by many schools across the nation. On average, these students receive 100 more minutes per week on reading than schools that do not use the program. (Ed.gov)

This survey will be sent out to teacher’s at my High School, Middle School, and Elementary School. I think I will survey 3-4 teacher’s from the different subjects at each school so I have a variety of grade levels. The student survey will be given to 4th grade and up. I’m just going to let the teacher’s decide who to give it to. I would just like to include some student opinions, so I’m really not looking for any specific group of students to interview.

Survey
Reading, Math, Science Teachers

Subject(s):______________________ Grade Level:__________________

Name(Optional):____________________________________________

Please take the time to fill out this survey about standardized testing (PSSAs), and what effect it has had on your classes, and teaching methods over the past few years. Your answers may be included in my research paper for English 202 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. If you don’t want to include your name, it’s ok. If you have any questions, please e-mail or call me. Thank you so much for your time!
-Mallory Malesky

1. How long have you been teaching? In the Albert Gallatin school district?
2. Over the past five years, how much more emphasis has been placed on PSSA preparation, and test taking (Compared to previous years, or with different standardized tests)?
3. On average, how much class time per week is spent on Reading/Math/Science in your classroom?
4. How much has this time increased over the past five years?
5. Have you had to change your “traditional” teaching method or style, to teach more information before your students take the test? (Example: Starting the multiplication tables a whole nine weeks earlier than you have in previous years)
6. Do you feel that the students are expected to learn too much information in a short amount of time, just to be at the “proficient” level on the test?
7. In your opinion, has the school decreased the amount of “Fun” things for students, such as programs, plays, field trips, etc. in the past five years?
8. Have you “taught to the test” in order to help your students do better on the PSSAs?
9. Do you feel that student’s with learning disabilities should be included in the district’s “report card”? Why or why not?
10. How has the district tried to help/supplement instruction in Reading, Math, Science?
11. Do you think your student’s feel pressured or stressed to do well on the PSSAs?
12. What type(s) of technology do you, or the school, incorporate into instruction? (Such as computer programs, videos, etc.) Are they helping your students learn the material?
13. If you want to share any comments, opinions, or ideas about No Child Left Behind and the PSSAs, please do. If you need more room for anything, use the back.

Survey
Non-Reading, Math, Science Teachers

Subject(s):______________________ Grade Level:__________________

Name(Optional):____________________________________________

Please take the time to fill out this survey about standardized testing (PSSAs), and what effect it has had on your classes, and teaching methods over the past few years. Your answers may be included in my research paper for English 202 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. If you don’t want to include your name, it’s ok. If you have any questions, please e-mail or call me. Thank you so much for your time!
-Mallory Malesky

1. How long have you been teaching? In the Albert Gallatin school district?
2. Over the past five years, how much more emphasis has been placed on PSSA preparation, and test taking (Compared to previous years, or with different standardized tests)?
3. Have you had to incorporate Reading, Math, or Science into your class in the past few years due to No Child Left Behind and the PSSAs? If so, how?
4. Do you notice your students showing a greater or less enthuasiam towards the subject you teach over the past five years?
5. How much time has been “taken away” from your subject due to increased classroom time spent on Reading, Math, and Science over the past five years?
6. Do you notice an increased level of “stress” on your students to perform well on the PSSAs? How has this affected their performance in your class?

Student Survey
Grade Level:______________

Your teacher will explain this survey before you fill it out. If you don’t have an answer to a question, just leave it blank. Please be honest with your answers.

1. What do you want to be when you grow up?
2. What is your favorite subject? Why?
3. What is your least favorite subject? Why?
4. How much time a week do you spend practicing for the PSSAs?
5. Do you think the extra time spent practicing helped you to get a higher score on the test?
6. What kind of technology do you use to help you do school work?
(Examples would be Computers, Computer Games, Videos, Calculators, etc.)
7. What subject do you wish there was more time for? (Chose a subject other than Reading, Math, or Science)