Date of Award
Summer 8-2022
Document Type
Thesis
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree Program
History
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Thesis Advisor
Dr. Edward Lee
Committee Member
Dr. Gregory Bell
Committee Member
Dr. Gregory Crider
Keywords
Public Education, No Child Left Behind, South Carolina, Marlboro County
Abstract
In the years following the passage of the historic No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, South Carolina has dropped to having one of the lowest ranked public education systems in the United States. As many schools in South Carolina are rural and in high poverty areas, this should have been a state where the federal legislation made great strides towards closing the education gap. One of the greatest struggling counties in the state, Marlboro, has seen its share of troubles since the passage of NCLB. This thesis will look at Marlboro County in the post-NCLB years and will examine (1) how the county fared with testing and other measurements of progress, (2) what kept teachers from doing their jobs well, and (3) some areas in which the district did thrive. While NCLB’s narrower focus on curriculum and state standards was intended to help specify the information students should know and help them succeed on state testing, the opposite largely occurred, and more students fell farther behind. In addition to this, the new guidelines created by NCLB created more oversight on teachers and their classrooms, which caused many to grow frustrated within the profession.
Recommended Citation
Branch, Jackson, "One Stop Along the Corridor of Shame: A Portrait of Public Education in Marlboro County in the Post-No Child Left Behind Years" (2022). Graduate Theses. 138.
https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/graduatetheses/138
Included in
Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Methods Commons
