No Child Left Behind Act
1. Definition of the Policy
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002, is a comprehensive overhaul of the federal governments requirements of state and local education systems (www.nclb.gov). It reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and replaces the 1994 Improving Americas Schools Act.
2. General Background Information
President Bush has made education his number one domestic priority (www.ed.gov). On January 23, 2001 he sent his NCLB plan for comprehensive education reform to Congress. At that time, he asked members of Congress to engage in an active bipartisan debate on how we can use the federal role in education to closet he achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority students and their peers. The result of the NCLB Act of 2001 embodies the four principles of President Bush's education reform plan: stronger accountability for results, expanded flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work.
3. Historical Information
Since 1965, when the federal government embarked on its first major elementary and secondary education initiative federal policy has strongly influenced America's schools (www.nclb.gov). Over the years, Congress has created hundreds of programs intended to address problems in education without asking whether or not the programs produce results or knowing they're impact on local needs. This "program for every problem" solution has begun to add up so much so that there is hundreds of education programs spread across thirty nine federal agencies at the cost of $120 billion dollars a year. Yet, after years of spending billions of dollars on education, the United States have fallen short in meeting the goals for educational excellence. The academic achievement gap between rich and poor and Anglo and minority are not wide, but in some cases is still growing wider.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002, is a comprehensive overhaul of the federal governments requirements of state and local education systems (www.nclb.gov). It reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and replaces the 1994 Improving Americas Schools Act.
2. General Background Information
President Bush has made education his number one domestic priority (www.ed.gov). On January 23, 2001 he sent his NCLB plan for comprehensive education reform to Congress. At that time, he asked members of Congress to engage in an active bipartisan debate on how we can use the federal role in education to closet he achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority students and their peers. The result of the NCLB Act of 2001 embodies the four principles of President Bush's education reform plan: stronger accountability for results, expanded flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work.
3. Historical Information
Since 1965, when the federal government embarked on its first major elementary and secondary education initiative federal policy has strongly influenced America's schools (www.nclb.gov). Over the years, Congress has created hundreds of programs intended to address problems in education without asking whether or not the programs produce results or knowing they're impact on local needs. This "program for every problem" solution has begun to add up so much so that there is hundreds of education programs spread across thirty nine federal agencies at the cost of $120 billion dollars a year. Yet, after years of spending billions of dollars on education, the United States have fallen short in meeting the goals for educational excellence. The academic achievement gap between rich and poor and Anglo and minority are not wide, but in some cases is still growing wider.