When was nclb enacted

All kids had to take the tests, including at least 95 percent of students in the disadvantaged groups. For example, schools had to report how students in special education were performing on reading and math tests. They had to set targets for improvement, called adequate yearly progress AYP.

Schools essentially got a report card from the state on how they were performing. The school had to share that information with parents of their students. If a school repeatedly failed to meet AYP, parents had the option to move their kids to another school.

The penalties only applied to Title I schools. Apart from accountability, NCLB made other changes to federal education law. Here are a few of the most important.

This meant that special education teachers had to be certified and demonstrate knowledge in every subject they teach. This is no longer the case. Now, federal law only requires teachers to be state certified and licensed. NCLB gave more flexibility to states in how they spent federal funding, so long as schools were improving. The law also required schools to use science- and research-based instruction and teaching methods. Below are just a few.

The law:. ESEA offered new grants to districts serving low-income students, federal grants for textbooks and library books, funding for special education centers, and scholarships for low-income college students. Additionally, the law provided federal grants to state educational agencies to improve the quality of elementary and secondary education. NCLB put in place measures that exposed achievement gaps among traditionally underserved students and their peers and spurred an important national dialogue on education improvement.

This focus on accountability has been critical in ensuring a quality education for all children, yet also revealed challenges in the effective implementation of this goal.

Some districts, including Chicago, successfully petitioned to offer their own tutoring services. States also generally shied away from employing dramatic school turnaround strategies for perennially failing schools. The NCLB law has also been criticized for growing the federal footprint in K education, and for relying too heavily on standardized tests.

Education advocates also claim the law has been underfunded. It never got there. As of that year, 38 percent of schools were failing to make adequate yearly progress, up from 29 percent in In , U.

In Congress, meanwhile, lawmakers saw the need for a rewrite, but were unable to bring a bill across the finish line. Schools at the point of having to offer school choice must hold back 10 percent of their Title I money. The waivers, which are now in place in 42 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, allow states to get out from under many of the mandates of the NCLB law in exchange for embracing certain education redesign priorities.

For instance, waiver states no longer have to aim toward the now past deadline for getting all students to proficiency, or offer public school choice or tutoring for schools that miss achievement targets. In exchange, states had to agree to set standards aimed at preparing students for higher education and the workforce.

Waiver states could either choose the Common Core State Standards, or get their higher education institutions to certify that their standards are rigorous enough. They also must put in place assessments aligned to those standards. And they have to institute teacher-evaluation systems that take into account student progress on state standardized tests, as well as single out 15 percent of schools for turnaround efforts or more targeted interventions.

The Obama administration has made a number of adjustments to its initial waiver requirements, especially in the area of teacher evaluation, which has been the biggest struggle for states. Under the NCLB law, states must test students in math and reading in grades and at least once in high school. Schools must report on the performance of different groups of students, such as racial minorities, as well as the student population as a whole.

Students are expected to reach annual achievement targets, known as adequate yearly progress, or AYP. Title I: The section of the law providing federal funding to school districts to educate disadvantaged children.

Under the law, highly qualified generally means that a teacher is certified and demonstrated proficiency in his or her subject matter. Choice: Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress meet achievement targets for two years in a row must allow their students to transfer to a better-performing school in the district.

Waiver: Comprehensive flexibility that the U. Department of Education has granted to more than 40 states and the District of Columbia from key requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in exchange for embracing certain Obama administration education-redesign priorities on teachers, testing, standards, and school turnarounds.

And schools must set aside 10 percent of their Title I funding to pay for the tutoring services. Subgroups: Different groups of traditionally overlooked students, including racial minorities, students in special education, English-language learners, and low-income children.

It refers to schools identified as one of the lowest performers in the state and subject to dramatic interventions, including potential leadership changes. This reform effort also acknowledged and responded to the criticism that NCLB could give states an incentive to lower standards in order to make them more attainable.

The law reduced the authority of the U. Department of Education over state education systems by giving both states and school districts more power to determine their own testing standards, academic assessments, and intervention methods.

Ballotpedia features , encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers. Click here to contact our editorial staff, and click here to report an error. Click here to contact us for media inquiries, and please donate here to support our continued expansion.

Share this page Follow Ballotpedia. What's on your ballot? Preparing to vote in ? Preview your ballot! Jump to: navigation , search. Obama will sign tomorrow. Categories : Education law Education laws and lawsuits Education policy terms Education policy terms and definitions. Voter information What's on my ballot? Where do I vote? How do I register to vote?

How do I request a ballot? When do I vote? When are polls open? Who Represents Me? Congress special elections Governors State executives State legislatures Ballot measures State judges Municipal officials School boards. How do I update a page? Election results.