No Child Left Behind Act
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| No Child Left Behind Act | |
|---|---|
 U.S. Government · Public domain · source | |
| Name | No Child Left Behind Act |
| Enacted | 2001 |
| Enacted by | 107th United States Congress |
| Signed by | George W. Bush |
| Effective | 2002 |
| Public law | 107-110 |
| Related legislation | Elementary and Secondary Education Act |
No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left Behind Act was a United States law enacted in 2001 that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and imposed new accountability requirements on public schools. It was passed by the 107th United States Congress and signed by George W. Bush, provoking debates involving figures such as Rudolph Giuliani, Arne Duncan, and organizations like the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. The statute influenced policy discussions in venues including the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Department of Education, and state legislatures, shaping later measures by actors such as Barack Obama and Betsy DeVos.
Background and Legislative History
The Act built on antecedents like the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, and federal initiatives under presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Bill Clinton, with legislative negotiations in the House of Representatives and the Senate involving committees such as the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Key lawmakers included John Boehner, Edward Kennedy, Arlen Specter, and George Miller, while advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Heritage Foundation lobbied positions. The measure passed as part of broader domestic policy debates with influences from the No Child Left Behind Initiative coalition, hearings featuring witnesses from the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, and media coverage by outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Provisions and Requirements
The statute required standardized testing and annual performance targets known as Adequate Yearly Progress, with assessments aligned to state standards and certifications overseen by agencies including the U.S. Department of Education and state education departments like the California Department of Education and the Texas Education Agency. It mandated accountability for subgroup performance for cohorts identified under federal categories such as students with disabilities served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, English learners connected to policies in the Office of English Language Acquisition, and economically disadvantaged students tracked by programs like Title I. Funding streams were administered through appropriations from the U.S. Congress and intersected with grant programs such as the Improving Teacher Quality State Grants and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative.
Implementation and Federal-State Roles
Implementation involved interactions among federal actors like the Secretary of Education and state officials including governors such as Jeb Bush and Gray Davis, with technical assistance from institutions such as the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. States created accountability systems and assessment consortia resembling the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, while districts administered testing in collaboration with vendors such as Pearson PLC and CTB/McGraw-Hill. Judicial challenges reached courts including the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, while executive actions and waivers during the Obama administration altered implementation through agreements with states like Florida and New York.
Criticism and Controversies
Critics from institutions such as the National Education Association, scholars at Harvard University and Stanford University, and commentators at the Brookings Institution argued that the law incentivized teaching to the test, narrowing curricula, and data manipulation scandals similar to incidents in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.. Debates engaged legal scholars connected to the American Bar Association, civil rights advocates at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and policymakers in state capitals including Albany, New York and Sacramento, California. Other controversies involved privacy concerns related to student data discussed by organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and procurement disputes involving firms such as Educational Testing Service.
Impact and Outcomes
Empirical analyses by research centers including the RAND Corporation, the Institute of Education Sciences, and universities like Michigan State University and Columbia University produced mixed findings on achievement gaps, graduation rates, and subgroup outcomes. Some studies tied accountability provisions to improvements in mathematics performance comparable to effects reported in meta-analyses from the National Bureau of Economic Research, while other evaluations highlighted persistent disparities documented by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA and the Economic Policy Institute. The law influenced teacher evaluation debates involving scholars at University of Chicago and Vanderbilt University and connected to later initiatives such as Race to the Top.
Reauthorization and Successor Legislation
Efforts to reauthorize the law involved bipartisan negotiations in sessions of the 108th United States Congress through the 114th United States Congress, with prominent legislators including Martha McSally, John Kline, and Tammy Baldwin participating in drafting amendments and replacement bills. In 2015, Congress enacted successor legislation, the Every Student Succeeds Act, shifting many accountability decisions to states and modifying provisions shaped by earlier actors such as Arne Duncan and influenced by groups like the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association.