Philosophy and No child left behind: an epistemological analysis of the effects of educational policy on knowledge development

The purpose of the study was to identify teacher perception regarding the effects of NCLB on the development of knowledge among elementary school students in two school districts in a Midwestern state. I applied a case-study design to address the research questions, with data obtained from interviews with eight experienced school teachers, who reported on the state of the cognitive development of their students. Epistemology, specifically social and virtue epistemology, served as the theoretical framework for the analysis of the data, thus filling a gap in the literature for an epistemological study of the effects of NCLB. The hypothesis for the study was that NCLB is detrimental to the development of knowledge among elementary students by placing too much emphasis on mandated standardized testing, and by limiting the curriculum to the subjects that are under the requirements for Adequate Yearly Progress (YAP). The analysis of teacher input indicates that NCLB hinders the development of knowledge among elementary school students. This is because educators are constrained by excessive testing requirements, and are thus not able to foster in their students the intellectual virtues necessary for the development of the lifelong learner, the student who is capable of and understands that learning continuous throughout one’s life. Future research is needed to link the scholarship on intellectual virtues to the education of school children, making of the virtues a central and intrinsic part of the educational effort.