Research On Education

1.0 Introduction

The Education system in the United States has undergone numerous changes over the past years. Some of the policies passed centered on the need to increase transparency in the education system, others focused on standardization of tests while others aimed at improving the performance disparities between various categories of students. This research will focus on closing achievement gaps on standardized tests. There are many ways of achieving this, however, this study will concentrate on horizontal and vertically integrated curriculums, benchmark testing, power objectives, learning communities and differentiated instruction. These methods will dwell on students in grades three to twelve. (Ainsworth, 2003)

2.0 Background to the study

The research is based on a policy called the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. This policy was passed in the year 2002 while focusing on a number of key objectives. They included; enhancing parental choices in education, increasing accountability in schools especially with regard to education and redirecting resources in education to proven methods.

Accountability was a major goal set out in the NCLB policy. This blueprint was to be achieved through yearly state objectives in three realms

  • Graduation rates for high schools
  • Attendance rates in junior high school and in elementary school
  • Language arts/ reading and math

The law required all school districts, public campuses and the state to adhere to these objectives and they called this yardstick the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). skorea.