Original Proposal

While I have already researched the unique educational approaches teachers and administrators use in urban schools, I want to determine if common practices have been changed and or altered in response to the No Child Left Behind Act. By implementing a blanket policy for all schools across the United States and refusing to acknowledge the unique differences and struggles that urban schools endure, only sets up these schools for more struggles and the possibility of failure. Even as expectations are known throughout school districts regarding these practices in education, I hypothesize that urban schools go about not only reaching and maintaining these standards differently, but are also affected differently as well with the implementation of this policy. And, as a result, are affected negatively by a policy that was supposed to help solve their problems, the achievement gap being the most dominant. In looking at what programs have been instituted to help enhance school performance and test scores, I will use two schools within the Beloit School District in Beloit, Wisconsin - Merrill Elementary and Beloit Memorial High School as case studies. This topic is important to explore for many reasons. First, the Bush Administration is looking to renew the No Child Left Behind Act in the midst of pending court cases brought on by school districts and teachers' unions across the nation. Recent opinion polls show parents are now opposing the NCLB. In Beloit, as with other urban districts, the possibility of same sex classrooms and or schools are being proposed in helping service the minority population, more specifically African American men, in striving for academic excellence. Lastly, the achievement gap is still present, and it is becoming more vast, not only for African Americans, but now also immigrants, especially Hispanics, and those of a lower socioeconomic status. "Today, children of color and children of the poor still do not fare as well in school as their wealthier, white counterparts."3 My father has told me repeatedly how important it is to invest in education now, or else your investment will go towards the criminal justice system. As crime rates soar in urban areas, and alarming numbers of young people continue to be victims of violence everyday, something has to be done to better equip these students and their schools with tools to provide a quality education to better accessibility for their future.