The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which was passed by Congress in 2001 with overwhelming bipartisan support and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002, is the name given to the last update to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The NCLB Act, born out of fears that the U.S. education system would no longer be internationally competitive, dramatically expanded the role of the federal government in making schools accountable for the academic progress of all students. And he placed particular emphasis on ensuring that states and schools improve the performance of certain groups of students, such as English learners, special school students, and poor and minority children, whose performance is on average lower than that of their peers. States were not required to meet the new requirements, but if they did not, they risked losing federal Title I money. Some critics argue that the additional expenses are not fully reimbursed by the increase in NCLB federal funds. Others point out that funding for the law increased massively after its passage[116] and that billions of funds previously allocated to specific uses could be reallocated to new uses. Even before the bill was passed, Education Secretary Rod Paige noted that ensuring children receive education remains a state responsibility, regardless of federal support: the amount of funding each school would receive from its local education agency for each year would be divided by the number of children with disabilities and multiplied by the number of students with disabilities. who participate in school-wide programs. [87] [88] How to cite this articleKlein, A.
(2015, April 10). No child left behind: an overview. Education Week. Retrieved Month Day, Year by www.edweek.org/policy-politics/no-child-left-behind-an-overview/2015/04Stacey Decker, deputy editor for digital, contributed to this article. Before NCLB, many schools did not focus on the progress of disadvantaged students. For example, children who received special education services were often excluded from mainstream education. They were also excluded from government testing. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a federal law that provides money for additional educational assistance to poor children in exchange for improved academic progress. NCLB is the latest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Funding changes: By amending the Title I funding formula, it was expected that the No Child Left Behind Act would better target resources to school districts with a high concentration of poor children. The bill also included provisions to give states and districts more flexibility in using a portion of their federal allocations. [113] “There is a mistake in the law and everyone knows it,” Alabama State Superintendent Joe Morton said Wednesday, Aug.
11, 2010. According to the No Child Left Behind Act, by 2014, every child at school level should test reading and math. “This can`t happen,” Morton said. Any participating school that does not make adequate annual progress (AYP) for two years must offer parents the choice to send their child to a non-failing school in the district and provide additional services such as free tutoring or support after three years. After five years without meeting with AYP, the school will have to make radical changes to the way the school is run, which could lead to a government takeover. [109] The federal government`s incremental investment in public welfare allows the NCLB Act to deliver on its promise to improve the achievement of all its students. Critics of education argue that although the legislation is characterized as an improvement of the SEA by eliminating segregation of the quality of education in schools, it is actually harmful. The legislation is virtually the only federal social policy designed to address wide-ranging social inequalities, and its political features inevitably stigmatize both schools attended by poor children and children in general.
Under the NCLB Act, states must test students in reading and math grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. And they must report on outcomes both for the student body as a whole and for specific “subgroups” of students, including English learners and special school students, racial minorities, and children from low-income families. On the other hand, some say NCLB has focused too much on standardized testing. Some schools ended up “putting it to the test” – focusing only on what students were tested. This left little time for everything the children needed or wanted to learn. The law created a new competitive grant program called Reading First, funded to the tune of $1.02 billion in 2004, to help states and districts establish “science-based, research-based” reading programs for K-3 children (with priority given to areas of high poverty). A smaller early reading programme should help states better prepare children aged 3 to 5 in disadvantaged areas for reading. Funding for the program was then significantly reduced by Congress during budget negotiations. [113] Education critic Alfie Kohn argues that the NCLB is “irredeemable” and should be abolished. He was quoted as saying: “Its main effect has been to condemn poor children to an endless diet of test preparation exercises.” [128] Based on the Education for All Children with Disabilities Act (EAHCA) of 1975, the Education of Persons with Disabilities Act (IDEA) was first enacted in 1991 and re-enacted in 2006 with new educational aspects (although still referred to as IDEA 2004). It maintained the EAHCA`s requirements for free and accessible education for all children.
IDEA approved state and discretionary grants for research, technology and training in 2004. It also required schools to use research-based interventions to support students with disabilities. Some argued that NCLB`s standards-based accountability was inconsistent with special education, which focuses on the individual needs of the child. In February 2007, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson and Georgia Governor Roy Barnes, co-chair of the Aspen Commission on No Child Left Behind, announced the release of the Commission`s final recommendations for the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. [129] The Commission is an independent, bipartisan effort to improve NCLB and ensure that it is a more useful force in closing the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and peers.