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Pres. George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law Jan. 8, 2002. This act, which was co-authored by Democratic Rep. George Miller of Calif., and Democratic U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Mass., outlined federal standards of accountability for states, school districts, and schools.
It also granted parents a more flexible choice concerning which schools their child could attend. It received strong bipartisan support from Congress and was an attempt to realign federal spending towards a more effective way to lesson the achievement gap between lower-income children and their more well-off counterparts. -
The standards enforced by the No Child Left Behind Act is divided into the following four sections:
1. Accountability for results: Set a time frame of 12 years, which started in 2002, and ends in 2014, for every school to be performing at proficient levels, which are determined by each state. In order to achieve this, states must set standards for what every child should know in the subjects of reading and math between grades three to eight.
If schools do not make make an adequate yearly progress (AYP) towards statewide standards, for two or more years, corrective actions are administered, including giving parents the option to send their child to a different school and fund reduction.
2. Unprecedented state and local flexibility: Allows school districts to distribute up to 50% of the federal funding they receive to the programs that match their local needs the most.
3. Focusing resources on proven educational methods: Federal investments significantly increased in scientifically proven educational methods and teachers are required to be evaluated as highly qualified in the subjects they teach.
4. Historic progress on improved educational choices and pptions for parent: To prevent minority students being trapped in under-performing schools, NCLB gives parents and parents the option to transfer from a low-performing school to a better performing school. -
Critics of the No Child Left Behind Act have found the following reasons to be skeptical of the Act's effectiveness and fear that it may actually have had a negative influence on the education system in the U.S. Arguments have included the following:
1. The influence that NCLB places on standardized testing encourages schools and teachers to spend too much time "teaching to the test" and too little time facilitating a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
2. Disincentives for under-performing schools have encouraged schools to manipulate test results in order to keep their funding.
3. Because of the progressive structure of the program, quality schools are encouraged to only improve marginally year by year, instead of presenting vast improvement in a single year, in order to maximize federal funding potential.
4. Standardized testing may be a flawed and biased way to measure student knowledge. -
Although there are many skeptics, there have been some indicators of positive change as a result of standards set by the No Child Left Behind Act.
1. A greater emphasis has been placed on individual schools and school districts throughout the US to be held accountable for the quality of education they provide.
2. Teachers are held to a more rigorous standard to help ensure that they are qualified for the subjects they teach.
3. NCLB seeks to bridge the gap between under-performing groups of ethnic minorities and seek solutions to give every child in the U.S. the same opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.
4. Parents are given more information about the status of their child's academic progress and have greater control over where they choose to send their child to school. -
Although the No Child Left Behind Act has many weaknesses which have made its results fall short of its original intention, it has been the first education Act passed since 1965, and has reawakened the debate concerning how to best give the children of the U.S. equal access to a high-quality education.
Although standardized testing is not the only measure by which we may determine how a child is progressing academically, it is a way to hold schools at a greater accountability for the type of education they produce.
Since NCLB has encouraged a healthy debate about ways to improve the education system in the U.S., that discussion may lead to amendments and changes that truly provide a high-quality education to every student.
