No Child Left Behind Act

Background

The NCLB was actually enacted as part of the reautho-rization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the most expansive federal education statute in history. The ESEA was initially enacted in 1965 during the height of the civil rights movement, and its later re-authorizations made federal funds available to provide support for states based on whether they complied with its provisions and those of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. At the same time, the ESEA was the first federal statute to provide large-scale support for education, both public and nonpublic.

Using its far-reaching provisions, the NCLB's congressional authors hoped to create a framework to improve the performance of America's elementary and secondary schools. Key elements included in the NCLB are intended to make school systems accountable for student achievement, especially by imposing standards for adequate yearly progress for students and districts; to require school systems to rely on teaching methods that are research based and that have been proven effective; to improve academic achievement among students who are economically disadvantaged; to assist in preparing, training, and recruiting highly qualified teachers; and to make better choices available for parents through innovative educational programs where local school boards are unresponsive to their needs.

The ESEA/NCLB, which was reauthorized as the almost 400-page Strengthening and Improvement of Elementary and Secondary Schools Act, is divided into nine subchapters. The remainder of this entry briefly reviews the contents of the NCLB's subchapters.

What the Law Says

Subchapter I, Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged, perhaps the best known part of the ESEA, requires local educational agencies, typically local school boards that receive federal financial assistance, to improve academic achievement among students who are economically disadvantaged. The NCLB's various parts are designed to provide basic programmatic requirements such as remedial instruction for specifically identified children from poor families, grants in order to help them to improve the [Page 591]reading skills, education for migratory children, and prevention and intervention programs for children and youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at risk. The Supreme Court's 1997 decision in Agostini v. Felton, which removed earlier barriers, now permits the on-site delivery of Title I services to students who attend religiously affiliated nonpublic schools.

Subchapter II, Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High Quality Teachers and Principals, contains some of the NCLB's most controversial and far-reaching provisions. The major sections in this part of the law address a teacher and principal training and recruiting fund; mathematics and science partnerships; innovations for enhancing teacher quality; and programs for enhancing education through technology.

Subchapter III, Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrant Students, requires school officials to provide improved language instruction for the children who are in need of such programs.

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