UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS IN K-12 EDUCATION IN MICHIGAN

No Child Left Behind is a federal law aiming to improve education by setting high standards and establishing measurable goals. Some of the unexpected consequences of the NCLB legislation affect how science, and Earth Science specifically, is being taught. With the push for district administrators to show “success” in established categories-- such as increased graduation rates-- schools that fail to make the grade are required to provide additional educational opportunities beyond the classroom requiring monies to be spent in these areas, rather than enhance the current/traditional classroom. As a result hiring practices change, content is pared down, class sizes increase, and teachers lack power to preserve best practices and advocate for individualized professional development.

Hiring practices of districts have changed where science generalists are preferred over “specialists” such as Earth Science teachers due to the flexibility of assigning generalists to any science class. Since Earth Science is not a graduation requirement in the State of Michigan, it is offered most often in middle school during the 8th grade, often in an integrated science curriculum.

Feeling the push to up graduation rates, many administrators have become managers of economics, with mixed results. Often content suffers; it gets watered down or delivered through on-line learning. Thus many best practices, such as reduced class sizes and lab-based science classes are no longer considered economically feasible. Since most professional development dollars provided by the state go preferentialy to Math and English Language Arts departments, most science educators can’t take time out of the class due to the cost of substitute teachers and lack of funds for conferences. This form of top-down management leaves teachers dis-empowered and limited in what they may do to improve the Earth Science education being offered in their own classroom.