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The No Child Left Behind Act
of 2001 (No Child Left Behind) is a landmark in
education reform designed to improve student achievement and change
the culture of America's schools. President George W. Bush describes
this law as the "cornerstone of my administration." Clearly, our
children are our future, and, as President Bush has expressed, "Too
many of our neediest children are being left behind."
WHAT NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND DOES FOR PARENTS AND CHILDREN
Supports learning in the early years, thereby preventing many
learning difficulties that may arise later
Children who enter school with language skills and pre-reading
skills (e.g., understanding that print reads from left to right and
top to bottom) are more likely to learn to read well in the early
grades and succeed in later years. In fact, research shows that most
reading problems faced by adolescents and adults are the result of
problems that could have been prevented through good instruction in
their early childhood years (Snow, Burns and Griffin 1998). It is
never too early to start building language skills by talking with
and reading to children.
No Child Left Behind
targets resources for early childhood education so that all
youngsters get the right start.
Provides more information for parents about their child's progress
Under
No Child Left Behind,
each state must measure every public school student's progress in
reading and math in each of grades 3 through 8 and at least once
during grades 10 through 12. By school year 2007-2008, assessments
(or testing) in science will be underway. These assessments must be
aligned with state academic content and achievement standards. They
will provide parents with objective data on where their child stands
academically.
Alerts parents to important information on the performance of their
child's school
No Child Left Behind
requires states and school districts to give parents easy-to-read,
detailed report cards on schools and districts, telling them which
ones are succeeding and why. Included in the report cards are
student achievement data broken out by race, ethnicity, gender,
English language proficiency, migrant status, disability status and
low-income status; as well as important information about the
professional qualifications of teachers. With these provisions,
No Child Left Behind
ensures that parents have important, timely information about the
schools their children attend--whether they are performing well or
not for
all
children, regardless of their background.
Gives children and parents a lifeline
In this new era of education, children will no longer be trapped in
the dead end of low-performing schools. Under
No Child Left Behind,
such schools must use their federal funds to make needed
improvements. In the event of a school's continued poor performance,
parents have options to ensure that their children receive the
high-quality education to which they are entitled. That might mean
that children can transfer to higher-performing schools in the area
or receive supplemental educational services in the community, such
as tutoring, after-school programs or remedial classes.
Improves teaching and learning by providing better information to
teachers and principals
Annual tests to measure children's progress provide teachers with
independent information about each child's strengths and weaknesses.
With this knowledge, teachers can craft lessons to make sure each
student meets or exceeds the standards. In addition, principals can
use the data to assess exactly how much progress each teacher's
students have made and to better inform decisions about how to run
their schools.
Ensures that teacher quality is a high priority
No Child Left Behind
defines the qualifications needed by teachers and paraprofessionals
who work on any facet of classroom instruction. It requires that
states develop plans to achieve the goal that all teachers of core
academic subjects be highly qualified by the end of the 2005-06
school year. States must include in their plans annual, measurable
objectives that each local school district*
and school must meet in moving toward the goal; they must report on
their progress in the annual report cards.
Gives more resources to schools
Today, more than $7,000 on average is spent per pupil by local,
state and federal taxpayers. States and local school districts are
now receiving more federal funding than ever before for all programs
under
No Child Left Behind:
$23.7 billion, most of which will be used during the 2003-04 school
year. This represents an increase of 59.8 percent from 2000 to 2003.
A large portion of these funds is for grants under Title I of
ESEA:
Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged. Title I
grants are awarded to states and local education agencies to help
states and school districts improve the education of disadvantaged
students; turn around low-performing schools; improve teacher
quality; and increase choices for parents. (For more about Title I,
see the
introductory paragraph to Q-and-As.)
For fiscal year (FY) 2003, funding for Title I alone is $11.7
billion--an increase of 33 percent since the passage of
No Child Left Behind.
President Bush's FY 2004 budget request would increase spending on
Title I by 48 percent since he took office.
Allows more flexibility
In exchange for the strong accountability,
No Child Left Behind
gives states and local education agencies more flexibility in the
use of their federal education funding. As a result, principals and
administrators spend less time filling out forms and dealing with
federal red tape. They have more time to devote to students' needs.
They have more freedom to implement innovations and allocate
resources as policymakers at the state and local levels see fit,
thereby giving local people a greater opportunity to affect
decisions regarding their schools' programs.
Focuses on what works
No Child Left Behind
puts a special emphasis on implementing educational programs and
practices that have been clearly demonstrated to be effective
through rigorous scientific research. Federal funding will be
targeted to support such programs. For example, the Reading First
program makes federal funds available to help reading teachers in
the early grades strengthen old skills and gain new ones in
instructional techniques that scientifically based research has
shown to be effective.
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