The No Child Left Behind Act: Impact on the Assessment of Special Educa

The No Child Left Behind Act: Impact on the Assessment of Special Education Students Three years after the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) moved into our schools there is a great deal of controversy that questions whether the act implemented by President George W. Bush is helping or hurting an already suffering school system. There are many dimensions of the NCLB act that have been questioned over the past three years; the fair assessment of students with disabilities is one of them. As the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (NCFOT) reported, the public relations aspect of this act is strong. However, all other areas of the new law are falling short of meeting their goals. In an annual report card developed by the NCFOT in 2005 accountability was rated with a ?D? and high-quality assessments with an ?F?. They further explain that Bush?s act encourages the use of commercial testing where they should be using classroom based assessments. Also, the accountability is somewhat misleading and can cause schools that are moving forward to turn into test-prep schools (NCFOT, 2005). While this report card focuses on how the NCLB act affects all subgroups in education, it is important to look at one group in particular; the special education students. President Bush?s NCLB act is forcing special education students to perform on statewide assessments that are above their intelligence level and are often requiring them to pass the assessments in order to receive a high school diploma. This often causes teachers, such as Lindley Corcoran, a special education teacher at Sheppard Pratt private school for students with severe disabilities, to teach to the test rather than teach practical functional skills which she believes will be ... ...ting Office. Fair Test. (2005). The National Center for Fair & Open Testing. Retrieved from http://www.fairtest.org Goldhaber, D. (2002). What might go wrong with the accountability measures of the ?No Child Left Behind Act The Urban Institute. Improving accountability for limited English proficient and special education students under the No Child Left Behind Act. (2003). Washington Area School Study Council. No educator left behind: Testing special education students. (2003). Retrieved March 18, 2005, from http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/NELB/NELB025.shtml Olson, L. (2004). Data show schools making progress on federal goals. Education Week, 24, 24-28. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org Tomes, H. Ph.D. (2004). In public interest: Are we really leaving no child behind? American Psychologist, 35, 31-35. Retrieved from www.apa.org