No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Title I

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 is the continuing reauthorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. Signed into law in January 2002, NCLB provides funding to states and schools and establishes federal education policy. Title I of NCLB, “Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged,” is designed to provide federal assistance to states and school districts in meeting the educational needs of low-achieving children in high-poverty schools, limited-English-proficient students, migratory children, children with disabilities, Native American children, neglected or delinquent children, and young children in need of reading assistance, as discussed in this entry. Title I provides both formula grants to states to pass on to school districts and other funds that go directly to schools for special purposes. The act also provides competitive grant programs. When states and outlying areas of the United States accept federal educational funding—as all currently do—they must comply with the mandates of NCLB. Although some states have complained bitterly about these requirements and threatened to refuse funding, none have actually done so.

The stated purpose of Title I is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity [Page 608]to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on state-level academic achievement standards as measured by state academic assessments (§1001). To achieve this purpose, Title I mandates annual student assessments of all students in Grades 3 through 8, and once in high school. It requires each state to create its own academic content and achievement standards and assessments to measure those standards, and use the results to hold schools, districts, and the state itself accountable. Assessments must include math and reading/language arts annually, and science must be tested three times between Grades 3 and 12. Title I also requires annual English language proficiency testing of all limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. States must issue individual student reports, as well as school and district “report cards” annually, that include the results of the student achievement assessments and are made available to parents and the public.

All students are expected to meet or exceed their state's academic standards by 2014. In other words, Title I mandates that by 2014, 100% of students will meet passing criteria on their state's assessment. Test score data must be disaggregated into different subgroups, including each major racial and ethnic group, students with disabilities, students with limited English proficiency, and economically disadvantaged students (§llll(a)(2)(C)(v)(II)). States must set annual measurable achievement objectives (AMAOs), which indicate the percentage of students expected to pass their state assessments each year; the AMAOs typically increase each year relative to the goal of ensuring that all students in each subgroup pass by 2014.

A subgroup is deemed to be making adequate yearly progress (AYP) if it meets or exceeds that year's AMAO. In addition, to be deemed as making AYP, at least 95% of the students in the subgroup must be tested each year, and each subgroup must meet the criteria of one other achievement indicator (typically attendance or graduation rates). Thus, if a subgroup does not reach its AMAO or if fewer than 95% of the students in that group take the test, that subgroup is deemed as “failing” to make AYP. Furthermore, schools and school districts are held accountable for ensuring that each subgroup reaches its AMAO. If any one of its subgroups does not, then the entire school (or district) is deemed as failing to make adequate yearly progress.

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