No Child Left Behind Act, Essay Example

Since the ratification of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, K-12 educators have been under pressure to mitigate factors causing inconsistency in student test scores. Significant to the development of ‘learner-centered’ models of classroom facilitation in the teaching and training fields, alternative teaching methodologies have done much to benefits students dealing with cultural constraints to language, English as a Second Language (ESL) and developmental disabilities (Reynolds, 2000). Teachers now employ a range of dual individual-group learning modalities (e.g. independent reading – guided reading) in order to assess and meet the needs of students with divergent abilities (Wolsey et al., 2010).  While recommended best practices typically advance standardization as solution, educators point out that learners show strongest potential in modified programs. The foregoing essay looks at the advancement of student learning by way of ‘Read Aloud’ curricula, and especially the efficacy of non-fiction, and reflects of the pedagogical framework that has assisted as a gateway to competency in analytical ability and retention with students 9-11 years of age whom I have worked with.

The U.S. National Center for Special Education Research’s (NCSER) dissemination of findings shows that quite a few teachers’ believed that students with significant cognitive disabilities benefit from alternative models of learning facilitation, including those that engage  environmental factors that might be posing blocks to memorization (Education USA, 2010). Part of this phenomenon has to do more generally with what Swiss Psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, and American Psychologist Isabel Meyers (1995) refer to as the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI);  a psychometric framework of difference in instructional development. Based on a continuum of personality types, the MBTI breaks down learning styles in the following classificatory distinction: 1) Extraversion – Introversion; 2) Sensing – Intuition; 3) Thinking – Feeling; and 4) Judging – Perceiving (Meyers, 1995). Abstract and semantic meaning that are traditionally accorded to different stages in psychological development, then, are put into counter-proposition in consideration of learning styles in that depth retention has much to do with the mechanics of transmission prior to logic. Students may be influenced differently by audio and visual memorizations, for example, and those inductive processes further impacted as the deductive process is put into play.

The aggregate implications of application of new models of learning in the classroom environment can be observed in a Canadian national assessment based on ‘Think Aloud’ protocols (TAPs): incorporating both informal methodologies based on speech, and rigorous calibration of respondent ranking in statistical narrative toward interpretation of individual, group and idiomatic performance seen in Differential Item Functioning (DIF) (Ericksan, 2010). The ‘Think Aloud’ oral response model delineates the student’s style of learning and responsiveness content without other forms of reporting such as writing. It also offers instrumental application in preliminary assessments of students whom are partially deaf, as those responses will be apparent in one-on-one, succinct question and answer format (Woolsley et al., 2004).

In a parallel UK study on guided reading, primary school educators were encouraged to promote interpretive and critical comprehension rather than accuracy and fluency citing students were not yet prepared to read silently (Fisher, 2008). The study claimed that fluent readers that could annunciate all prose, it was typically done while reading aloud – and not with measure of comprehension. Conducted in support of a national literacy strategy should recognize that the activity of guided reading depends largely upon the effectiveness of the teachers to share in responsibility for problem solving in queries with the students, Table 1 illustrates the various measures needed to bridge the gap between what is known by individual students, and what is new information.

As educators are pressed to find adequate tools toward betterment of student learning and test scores, consistency of method in the transition from ‘read aloud’ to ‘think aloud’ testing prompts students to think through the constraints of the semi-structured speech model, as analytical thought is optimized by way of the DIF process. For students from non-English speaking or varied idiomatic cultures, and for those with developmental disabilities, alternative learning offers promise in individual outcome, and in collaborative contribution to policy mandated reporting of cumulative institutional and district outcomes.

Works Cited

Erciksan, K. (2010). Application of Think Aloud Protocols for Examining and Confirming Sources of Differential Item Functioning Identified by Expert Reviews. Educational Measurement: Issues & Practice, 29 (2), 24-35.

Fisher, A. (2008). Teaching comprehension and critical literacy: investigating guided reading in three primary classrooms. Literacy, 42(1), 19-28. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9345.2008.00477.x

Meyers, S. (1995). Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type. Mountain View, CA: Davies-Black Publishing.

Reynolds, J. (2000). Learning-Centered Learning: Theory Into Practice. Inquiry, 5 (2), Fall 2000. Retrieved from: http://www.vccaedu.org/inquiry/inquiry-fall2000/i-52-reynolds.html

Wolsey, T et al. (2010). Reading Practices in Elementary Schools: Format of Tasks Teachers Assign. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching, 3 (1), 105-116.

Woosley, M. et al. (2004).A Preliminary Examination of Instructional Arrangements, Teaching Behaviors, Levels of Academic Responding of Deaf Middle School Students in Three Different Educational Settings. Education & Treatment of Children 27(3), 263-27.