The No Child Left Behind

Constance Brooks

SWK 299 L

February 15, 2012

School leaders must be committed to the process of continuous examination of their own perceptions and practices as well as their own personal decision making process’ in order to assure the success of English Language Learner (ELL) students in a supportive linguistically and culturally relevant school community. Some school leaders are not prepared to deal with the challenges faced by ELL students and the complex issues concerning linguistically and culturally relevant education. This brings about a conflict for administrators that lack the skills needed to provide support and guidance for teachers and programs for English Language Learners.

This means school leaders are not effectively trained to help their staff make appropriate decisions related to educational planning for ELL students. It is essential to determine the perceptions school leaders hold in regard to ELL students and to determine what factors could be linked to these perceptions, as both influence the school environment.

School leaders serving ELL students recognize the challenges and opportunities posed by the increasing cultural diversity in their educational institutions. In order to achieve this goal, school leaders have to become specialists who identify needs, develop effective programs, and provide leadership for productively managing educational changes for ELL students. One of these specialties could define significant school change and instructional reform.

Effective advocacy for change and reform requires that social workers also understand the demands of current standards and assessment programs. One must have a clear vision of classroom instruction and educational strategies that increases the ability of student learning especially for ELL students. School leaders must understand and support the move for quality training of staff. Since this issue will undoubtedly continue to be an important one, not only to the community as well as in school curriculum, a better understanding of knowledge and its place in the development of human activities is increasingly necessary for leaders of the community, school leaders and teachers. This kind of knowledge is necessary for the practice of instructional leadership that effectively links this matter so it cannot be isolated from the Hispanic/Latino communities in which it is rooted in.

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 requires that all students, including ELL students, reach high standards by demonstrating proficiency in English language arts by 2014. Schools and school districts must help ELL students and other student subgroups make continuous progress toward this goal. Through the mandates, NCLB establishes high expectations for all students and seeks to reduce the achievement gap between