The impact of NCLB on students with special needs self-concept as a result of standardized assessments

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB 2001) has had profound effects on all students. NCLB measures the progress of all students using grade-level equivalent assessments. Special education students who take assessments that are above their academic functioning level may experience feelings of being intellectually challenged because they are tested on content and standards to which they may never have been exposed. Students with disabilities who have individualized education plans that dictate their learning and modifications. If these students have individualized plans, then a logical assessment choice would be individualized assessments in order to truly measure their progress accurately. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of current assessment practices of NCLB on special education students through the use of questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were distributed to special education and general education teachers. The survey consisted of 10 questions that respondents answered along a Likert scale. Interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with randomly selected members of the same groups. Qualitative methods were used to analyze the data collected in the study. As a result, many of the students and teachers feel that standardized assessment practices are unfair to students and it is putting too much pressure on students as a whole. For example, during one of the interviews, a student participant clearly states that, "most students are going to struggle on the state standardized assessment because it puts too much pressure on kids." Furthermore, the pressure is also being put on the students because their teachers' employment is depending on their students' scores. Although all students are being impacted, there is a significant negative impact on special education students' self-concept as a result of state standardized assessment. The data revealed that there is a correlation between state standardized assessments and a negative impact of special education students' self-concept as a result of the implementation of state standardized assessments.