Regardless of what one thinks of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the current national education legislation has demonstrated the power and potential of learning standards linked with systems of accountability to influence classroom experiences. Unfortunately, the changes promoted by the legislation have tied the professional hands and suppressed the…

Amid the recent proliferation of teacher-led movements resisting high-stakes testing across the United States, the authors identify how a "failing" elementary school reclaimed local discourse by taking political action against top-down measures. Framed as competing modes of school reform, the authors offer the sociocultural framework of…

As the face of education in Philadelphia's public schools changes in response to budget constraints and politics, current "Teach For America" (TFA) corps members' roles have also changed. These changes have resulted in the majority of second-year TFA corps members being relocated from school district to charter-managed schools, many of…

Changes in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have opened a door to a new outlook on educational services in both general education and special education. Response to Intervention (RTI) is an answer to the changes prescribed in that legislation. RTI is a promising framework for education…

An ever growing thirst for a framework that supports a flexible environment in which the schools and school districts are protected within a zone that recognizes school reform is everyone's business. Moreover, the teacher's role as a leader in her classroom and among her peers must become a part of the search for a culture of success. This article…

This article draws on a 23 month ethnographic study of an emerging--newly established and rapidly growing--Latino community in the New Latino Diaspora of the U.S. in order to examine how educators and parents interpret language education policy (LEP). It analyzes how an English as a Second Language director and one undocumented Mexican mother…

Special education teachers, through a national survey conducted in 55 rural districts, provided information on the positive and negative aspects of teaching in rural schools. The 203 special educators were asked what they liked best about their position and what they found challenging. Some of the themes identified in the analysis centered on…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (2002) requires state education agencies to assist chronically low-performing schools and districts by providing statewide systems of intensive and sustained support. One element of this support is the deployment of school support teams that work as external facilitators of improvement in schools and districts…

General and special education are confronting tremendous change resulting from legal mandates related to closing the achievement gap under No Child Left Behind and a focus on early intervention and prevention in the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, 2004. As a result, schoolwide intervention approaches are under rapid development,…

The practice of teaching democracy in school is diminishing. The implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has forced teachers to teach to the test, and has required some to follow scripted curriculum, leaving little time or incentive for teaching democracy. This study examines the importance of practicing democracy and identifies ways in…

A brief history of NCLB and the resultant scripted reading programs shows how hollow these fixes are when you eliminate teacher responsibility, professional judgment, and flexibility. The authors caution, "In some cases, we do think that these programs can be successful, but only if the teacher has the power as an educator to adjust the…

Instructional time for social studies in elementary classrooms has decreased since the passage of Goals 2000 and No Child Left Behind, with content contracted to align with reading goals. Consequently, opportunities for preservice teachers to observe and teach social studies lessons have diminished. This qualitative multiple case study examines…

Since the inception of mandated testing in reading and mathematics, social studies instruction has been marginalized in elementary and middle schools. After the genesis of several state-mandated testing programs and nearly a decade after the launch of the No Child Left Behind legislation, the effects of limited K-8 social studies instruction are…

The "Individuals with Disabilities Act," "No Child Left Behind Act," and "Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act" call for educators to work together to teach special education students in an inclusive setting. In this regard, research supports the use of co-teaching by general and special education…

As an eighth-grade student at Jackson Middle School in Nashville, Tennessee, Olivia Contreras had arrived in the United States from her native Nicaragua the previous year. But Olivia learned English so quickly that she was placed in mainstream content classes the following year. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 created a lot of stories…