No Child Left Behind Act

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110), commonly known as NCLB (IPA:), is a United States federal law that was passed in the House of Representatives on May 23, 2001 and signed on January 8, 2002, that reauthorized a number of federal programs aiming to improve the performance of U.S. primary and secondary schools by increasing the standards of accountability for states, school districts and schools, as well as providing parents more flexibility in choosing which schools their children will attend. Additionally, it promoted an increased focus on reading and re-authorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).

NCLB is the latest federal legislation (another was Goals 2000) which enacts the theories of standards-based education reform, formerly known as outcome-based education, which is based on the belief that high expectations and setting of goals will result in success for all students. The act requires states to develop criterion-based assessments in basic skills to be given to all students in certain grades. NCLB does not assert a national achievement standard; standards are set by each individual state.

The act also requires that the schools distribute the name, home phone number and address of every student enrolled to military recruiters, unless the parent specifically opts out.

The effectiveness and desirability of NCLB's measures are hotly debated. A primary criticism asserts that NCLB reduces effective instruction and student learning because it may cause states to lower achievement goals and motivate teachers "to teach to the test." A primary supportive claim asserts that systematic testing provides data that sheds light on which schools are not teaching basic skills effectively, so that interventions can be made to reduce the achievement gap for disadvantaged and disabled students.

Up for possible reauthorization in 2007, a new Congress is considering major revisions, as one group of 50 Republican senators and representatives introduced legislation in March 2007 to provide states much greater freedom from NCLB's controls and punishments.

Teacher quality
The No Child Left Behind act requires that (by the end of the 2006-07 school year) all teachers be "highly qualified" as defined in the law. A highly qualified teacher is one who has (1) fulfilled the state's certification and licensing requirements, (2) obtained at least a bachelor's degree, and (3) demonstrated subject matter expertise. The procedure for demonstrating subject matter knowledge depends on a teacher's tenure and level of instruction.

For teachers who are new to the profession (less than one year of experience):


 * Elementary teachers must pass a state test demonstrating their subject knowledge and teaching skills in reading/language arts, writing, mathematics and other areas of basic elementary school curricula.
 * Middle and high school teachers must demonstrate a high level of competency in each academic subject area they teach, such demonstration can occur either through passage of a rigorous state academic subject test or successful completion of an undergraduate major, a graduate degree, coursework equivalent to an undergraduate major or an advanced certification or credentialing.

Experienced teachers can satisfy the subject matter requirement in the same manner as new teachers or demonstrate subject knowledge through a state-determined high objective uniform state standard of evaluation (HOUSSE). These requirements have caused some difficulty in implementation especially for special education teachers and teachers in small rural schools who are often called upon to teach multiple grades and subjects.

Student testing
The progress of all students will be measured annually for math and reading in grades 3-8 and at least once during high school. By the end of the 2007-08 school year, testing also will be conducted in science once during grades 3–5, 6–9, and 10–11.

Assessments are required in public schools by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Assessments may take any form so long as the same assessment system is used for all students in a state. Although it is not required under NCLB, states generally have chosen inexpensive multiple-choice standardized tests.

Some states choose to adopt tests which statistically norm, or rank student performance relative to each other, but this is discouraged by NCLB. Under NCLB, assessments should normally be criterion-referenced tests, which focus on whether a student knows the required content or can do the required skill as outlined in the state's standards. Norm-referenced tests, by contrast, merely compare the performance of students to determine where students rank compared to other students.

English language learners are generally exempted from testing during their first year in an American school. After that, they must participate in the assessment process -- either in English or in their native language, at the sole discretion of the individual state -- for the next three to five years. After five years, students are expected to be sufficiently proficient in English to take the test in English.

Scientifically based research
The phrase scientifically based research is found 111 times in the text of the No Child Left Behind Act. Schools are required to use "scientifically based research" strategies in the classroom and for professional development of staff. Research meeting this label, which includes only a small portion of the total research conducted in the field of education and related fields, must involve large quantitative studies using control groups as opposed to partially or entirely qualitative or ethnographic studies, research methodologies which may suggest different teaching and professional development strategies but that do not result in evidence demonstrating efficacy.

The No Child Left Behind Act defines the term "scientifically based research" as research that:


 * Applies rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain valid knowledge relevant to reading development, reading instruction, and reading difficulties;
 * Uses systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation or experiment;
 * Involves rigorous data analyses that are adequate to test the stated hypotheses and justify the general conclusions drawn;
 * Relies on measurements or observational methods that provide valid data across evaluators and observers and across multiple measurements and observations; and
 * Has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independent experts through a comparably rigorous, objective, and scientific review.

However, programs marketed as research based may not be entirely scientifically researched.

Schools can obtain information about "research-based" instructional strategies and programs from several government-funded sources, including:


 * | Best Evidence Encyclopedia


 * | Campbell Collaboration (C2)


 * | Center on Instruction.


 * | Florida Center for Reading Research.


 * | National Institute for Literacy


 * | National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices


 * | NICHY Research to Practice Database


 * | Promising Practices Network.


 * | Results for Kids Resources


 * | What works Clearinghouse.

A nonprofit organization Educational Underwriters was founded to provide an avenue for vendors seeking to have material reviewed.

Public school choice
Schools identified as needing improvement are required to provide students with the opportunity to take advantage of public school choice no later than the beginning of the school year following their identification for school improvement. NCLB authorized &mdash; and Congress has subsequently appropriated &mdash; a substantial increase in funding for Title I aid, in part to provide funding for school districts to implement the law’s parental choice requirements. About 1 percent of eligible students made use of the school choice option as of 2004–05.