Analysis of No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) Ismail Ardahanli, Bulent Coban, Saliha Bektas, Ilker Gure

The Policy Description & Summary of Key Details About How The Policy Came to Be The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by Congress in 1965 as part of the Johnson Administration’s War on Poverty campaign. The law’s original goal remaining today became to improve educational equity for students from low income families by providing federal funds to school districts serving poor students.

Until the No Child Left Behind was enacted, six reauthorizations of ESEA had been passed since its initial passage 1965. It was seventh one and each reauthorization has brought changes to the program, but its main goal of improving the educational opportunities for children from lower income families remains.

On January 23, 2001, No Child Left Behind plan was sent by him for comprehensive education reform to Congress. At that time, he requested members of Congress to engage in an active bipartisan debate on how we could utilize the federal role in education to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority students and their peers.

The result, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, embodies the four principles of President George W. 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.

This had Title I intending” to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments.” (Public Law 107–110—jan. 8, 2002, Pg.15). Establishing high standards and setting measurable goals could enrich individual outcomes in education was supported by NCLB as standards-based education reform.

The Act mandates that states ought to develop assessments in basic skills. States need to give assessments to entire students at grade levels selected in order to take federal school funding.

Requirements of NCLB Since NCLB requires annual testing, report cards, yearly academic progress, teacher qualifications, and funding changes, the federal role in public education was spread out by that. Annual assessment requirement to all students pushed states to prepare standardized test which is given under the same conditions.

Cont. Schools taking Title I funding through the ESEA need to get Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in test scores which means that each year the grade level tested must make a progress better than same grade level taken test last year.

There are some steps taken in order to improve the schools once repeatedly poor results occurred. Schools are openly labeled as in need of improvement since they miss AYP for a second following year and they need to advance a two-year improvement plan for the subjects that the schools do not instruct well. If the students have a choice to change the school, they can go to a better one within school district. In the event of missing AYP in the third year the schools need to come up with free enrichment and other accessorial education services to the students struggling.

Cont. Once the schools miss AYP target for fourth following year, they are labeled as necessitating corrective action , that may contain replacement of staff as wholesale , setting up a new curriculum , increasing the students` the amount of time spend in class. In the fifth year , if the schools fail again , the whole schools are restructured as a plan In the event of failing in the sixth year, the plan is started to implement. Hiring a private company to run the schools, turning the school into a charter school, closing the school, or asking the states` education departments to run the schools directly exist among the options commonly.

Identify what this policy is/was supposed to do (its intended goal or goals) “Children who have an IEP, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act are covered under NCLB. In other words, a child with a disability needs to have individual appropriate accommodations written in their IEP to help them become proficient on State tests and assist them with their reading skills to achieve grade level ability by the end of third grade.”(No Child Left Behind Act of 2001,)

Purpose of NCLB “The primary purpose of NCLB is to ensure that students in every public school achieve important learning goals while being educated in safe classrooms by well-prepared teachers. To increase student achievement, the law requires that school districts assume responsibility for all students reaching 100% student proficiency levels within 12 years on tests assessing important academic content.

Cont. Furthermore, NCLB requires schools to close academic gaps between economically advantaged students and students who are from different economic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds as well as students with disabilities.”(By M.L. Yell — Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall Updated on Jul 20, 2010)

Cont. “The purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and stat academic assessments (20 U.S.C. 6301)”.

How does NCLB policy accomplish the goals? NCLB is the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). NCLB is stricter and more specific than the Improving America’s Schools Act (IASA), the 1994 reauthorization of the same law. Key NCLB accountability provisions include the following:

Every state must have in place content standards for what students should know and be able to do in reading and mathematics, and must implement content standards in science by 2005–06. Every state must administer annual tests in reading and mathematics for all students— including students with disabilities and limited English proficiency (LEP)—in grades 3– 8 and at least once in grades 10–12 by 2005– 06. By 2007–08, all states also must assess students in science at least once each in grades 3–5, 6–9 and 10–12.

Every state must also develop annual AYP targets for schools and districts for all students and for key subgroups of students based on state test results, student test participation rates, and one other academic indicator (such as graduation rate). Increasing AYP targets require that all students demonstrate proficiency in reading and mathematics by 2013–14. States must implement English proficiency standards and assessments for LEP students by 2002–03, and must administer these tests annually. By 2005–06, states must have set annual measurable achievement objectives (AMAOs) specifying expected progress in LEP students’ learning English proficiency and in meeting AYP targets.

Information on school and district performance must be communicated to parents, teachers, and other stakeholders. Specific assistance and consequences must be implemented for schools and districts that repeatedly do not make AYP.

“NCLB requires states to use five indicators to determine AYP: the percent of students who are proficient in reading; the percent of students who are proficient in mathematics; the percent of students who participate in reading assessments; the percent of students who participate in mathematics assessments; and (5) at least one other academic indicator at each school level (elementary, middle, and high school).

Even small differences in the rules for calculating each AYP indicator will affect whether schools or districts make AYP. In addition, as most states have taken advantage of federal flexibility in developing and refining their definitions of AYP, these definitions have changed over time and vary across states. “(U.S. Department of Education)