No Child Left Behind, enacted by the Bush administration (FY2001) in response to a failure of the American educational system has had several years
To educators and parents alike, wading the sixty-plus pages of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB manages to be confusing, horrifying and comforting, all at the same time. Obviously, the administrators who penned the bill had a singular goal in mind: to hold the American education system accountable for the education of our students. What they have not mastered is the art of simplicity. What is the NCLB? * In broad strokes, this is what NCLB provides:
Accountability For Results
- Each state was to create assessments that measures what children know and learn in reading and math in grades 3-8. Student progress and achievement are measured according to tests that are given to every child, every year
- NCLB is to empower parents, citizens, educators, administrators and policymakers with data from those annual assessments. The data will be available in annual report cards on school performance and on statewide progress reports. They will give parents information about the quality of their children’s schools, the qualifications of teachers, and their children’s progress in key subjects.
- Statewide reports include performance data disaggregated according to race, gender and other criteria to demonstrate not only how well students are achieving overall, but also progress in closing the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and other groups of students.
Creating Flexibility At The State And Local Levels and Reducing Red Tape
- To cut down on federal red tape and bureaucracy and enhance local control, NCLB reduced the overall number of programs at the US Department of Education from 55 to 45.
- NCLB offered most local school districts in America the freedom to transfer up to 50 percent of the federal dollars they receive among several education programs without separate approval.
- NCLB allowed the creation of up to 150 local flexibility demonstration projects for school districts interested in obtaining the flexibility to consolidate all funds they receive from several programs in exchange for entering into an agreement holding them accountable for higher academic performance.
- Fifty states had the freedom to transfer up to 50 percent of the non-Title I state activity funds they receive from the federal government among an assortment of programs without advance approval.
- Up to seven states have new flexibility in the use of their non-Title I state-level federal funds in a variety of categories in the form of waivers from federal requirements relating to a variety of ESEA programs. States participating in the new demonstration projects are also able to coordinate their efforts with local school districts through state-local flexibility partnerships designed to make sure federal education funds are being used effectively to meet student needs
- NCLB gave local school officials serving rural schools and districts more flexibility and a greater say in how federal funds are used in their schools.
- NCLB was to create meaningful options for parents whose children are trapped in failing schools and make these options available:
- Public School Choice: Parents with children in failing schools would be allowed to transfer their child to a better-performing public or charter school immediately after a school is identified as failing.
- Supplemental Services: Federal Title I funds (approximately $500 to $1,000 per child) can be used to provide supplemental educational services – including tutoring, after school services, and summer school programs – for children in failing schools.
- Charter Schools: NCLB expands federal support for charter schools by giving parents, educators and interested community leaders greater opportunities to create charter schools.
- NCLB authorized an increase in federal funding for reading from $300 million in FY2001 to more than $900 in FY 2002 and links that funding to scientifically proven methods of reading instruction through the President’s Reading First Plan
Strengthening Teacher Quality
- NCLB asked states to put a highly-qualified teacher in every public school classroom by 2005. The Act also makes it easier for local schools to recruite and retain excellent teachers.
- NCLB consolidated smaller programs within the US Department of Education. The bill also created a new Teacher Quality Program that allowed greater flexibility for local school districts.
- In addition to specific funds for teacher quality, NCLB gave local schools new freedom to make spending decisions with up to 50 percent of the non-Title I funds they receive. With this new freedom, a local school districts were able to use additional funds for hiring new teachers, increasing teacher pay, improving teacher training and development or other uses.
Confirming Progress
- Under NCLB, a small sample of students in each state will participate in the fourth-and eighth-grade <b>N</b>ational <b>A</b>ssesment of <b>E</b>ducational <b>P</b>rogress (NAEP) in reading and math every other year in order to help the US Department of Education verify the results of statewide assessments required under Title I to demonstrate performance and progress.
Promoting English Proficiency
- NCLB consolidates the US Department of Education’s Bilingual and Immigrant education programs in order to simplify program operations, increase flexibility, and focus support on enabling all Limited English Proficient (LEP) students to learn English as quickly and effectively as possible. The new Act focused on helping limited English proficient students learn English through scientifically based teaching methods.
- NCLB requires students will be tested for reading and language arts in English after they have attended school in the United States for three consecutive years.
- Under NCLB, parents are notified their child demonstrates limited English proficiency and is in need of English language Instruction.
*Information provided by www.ed.gov
The copyright of the article No Child Left Behind in Early Childhood is owned by Connie Newbauer. Permission to republish No Child Left Behind in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
