NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND FEDERAL LEGISLATION

No Child Left Behind federal legislation



No Child Left Behind federal legislation

NCLB was designed to augment the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. NCLB was touted as a landmark in education reform designed to improve student achievement and change the culture of America's schools (U.S. Department of Education, 2005). At the time of its signing Bush commented that NCLB was one of the cornerstones of his administration. In his speech following the signing, Bush stated. “Clearly, our children are our future, and, too many of our neediest children are being left behind." (U.S. Department of Education, 1)The NCLB legislation reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), the federal government's largest investment in K-12 education. Title I of ESEA targets over $11 billion in financial assistance to schools educating low-income students. ESEA allocates almost another $10 billion for teacher recruitment and professional development, educational technology, after-school programs, and other purposes (The Education Trust, n.d.).

Along with providing additional resources, the NCLB legislation adds important accountability provisions to Title I of ESEA and establishes a framework for real progress in raising overall student achievement and in increasing parent involvement. The accountability provisions require states to set clear timelines for improving student achievement, with particular emphasis on closing achievement gaps between low-income and minority students and their peers. The new reporting provisions ensure that parents and the public will have a better sense of how schools are doing (The Education Trust, n.d.).

Under NCLB, all public schools students must be proficient in reading and math by the school year 2013-2014. Each state has a curriculum structure that summarizes the course of study by local school districts. This is how they develop programs directing state and local textbook adoption processes. Most states' average curriculum consists of English language arts (ELA), mathematics, history/social science, and science (U.S. Department of Education, 2005).

Under NCLB, each year schools, school districts, and the state must make adequate yearly progress (AYP). For Unified school districts K-12, 23.0% of their students must score proficient or above in ELA and 23.7% must do so in math. By the 2007-2008 school year, 34.0% must score proficient or above in ELA and 34.6% in math. Scores must improve annually with the same goal of 100% proficient or above by the 2013-2014 school year. States need to develop standards-based tests in science by the 2007-2008 school years. Under the accountability provisions, states must explain how they will close the achievement gap by making certain that all students reach academic proficiency.

Problems associated with NCLBSome of the problems that states have experienced since the implementation of NCLB have to do with how scores are calculated with respect to race, disability, or economic circumstances. By law if one group of students fails to meet the standards, the whole school can be reprimanded. In a related Associated Press (AP) article; the AP noted that states receiving federal money have widely different standards for how many children must be counted, allowing schools to exclude ...