Urban Early Childhood Educators’ Perceptions of the Impact of NCLBon Their Literacy Practices

Abstract

While much has been written concerning the impact of NCLB on students, teachers, parents, administrators, andpolicies makers in general, little has been documented about the impact of NCLB on urban early childhood educators’literacy practices in particular. The purpose of this paper is to present the preliminary findings from a research studythat examines urban early childhood educators’ perceptions of NCLB on their literacy practices. An on-line surveywas administered to 47 urban early childhood educators in grades P-3 in an urban school district in the Midwest partof the United States of America. While a significant percentage of the teachers surveyed perceive that NCLB has hada largely negative impact on curriculum, literacy instruction and student achievement overall, it has, nonetheless, ledto a more rigorous curriculum in their classrooms.