Hess is a specialist in education policy at the American Enterprise Institute and Harvard U.; Petrilli is with the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a Washington-based school reform organization. They offer a concise guide to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), covering the history and key elements of the law, how it is intended to work, how i.

Education is intimately connected to many of the most important and contentious questions confronting American society, from race to jobs to taxes, and the competitive pressures of the global economy have only enhanced its significance. Elementary and secondary schooling has long been the province of state and local governments; but when George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, it signaled an unprecedented expansion of the federal role in public education. This book provides the first balanced, in-depth analysis of how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) became law. Patrick McGuinn, a political scientist with hands-on experience in secondary education, explains how this happened despite the country's long history of decentralized school governance and the longstanding opposition of both liberals and conservatives to an active, reform-oriented federal role in schools. His book provides the essential political context for understanding NCLB, the controversies surrounding its implementation, and forthcoming debates over its reauthorization. how the struggle to define the federal role in school reform took center stage in debates over the appropriate role of the government in promoting opportunity and social welfare. He places the evolution of the federal role in schools within the context of broader institutional, ideological, and political changes that have swept the nation since the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, chronicles the concerns raised by the 1983 report A Nation at Risk, and shows how education became a major campaign issue for both parties in the 1990s. McGuinn argues that the emergence of swing issues such as education can facilitate major policy change even as they influence the direction of wider political debates and partisan conflict. McGuinn traces the Republican shift from seeking to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education to embracing federal leadership in school reform, then details the negotiations over NCLB, the forces that shaped its final provisions, and the ways in which the law constitutes a new federal education policy regime - against which states have now begun to rebel. and that only by understanding the unique dynamics of national education politics will reformers be able to craft a more effective national role in school reform.

This book presents the latest developments related to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, legislation to extend and revise the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was signed into law as P.L. 107-110 (H.R. 1). This legislation extensively amends and re-authorises many of the programs of federal aid to elementary and secondary education. Major features of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 include the following: (a) states will be required to implement standards-based assessments in reading and mathematics for pupils in each of grades 3-8 by the 2005-2006 school year, and at three grade levels in science by the 2007-2008 school year; (b) grants to states for assessment development are authorised; (c) all states will be required to participate in National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in 4th and 8th grade reading and mathematics every second year; (d) states must develop adequate yearly progress (AYP) standards, incorporating a goal of all pupils reaching a proficient or advanced level of achievement within 12 years, and apply them to each public school, local education agency (LEA), and the state overall; (e) a sequence of consequences, including public school choice and supplemental services options, would apply to schools and LEAs that fail to meet AYP standards for 2 or more consecutive years; (f) ESEA Title I allocation formulas are modified to increase targeting on high poverty states and LEAs and to move Puerto Rico gradually toward parity with the states; (g) within 3 years, all paraprofessionals paid with Title I funds must have completed at least 2 years of higher education or met a "rigorous standard of quality"; (h) several new programs aimed at improving reading instruction are authorised; (i) teacher programs are consolidated into a state grant authorising a wide range of activities such as teacher recruitment, professional development, and hiring; (j) states and LEAs participating in Title I have various requirements to ensure that teachers meet the bill's definition of "highly qualified" by the end of the 2005-2006 school year; (k) almost all states and LEAs are authorised to transfer a portion of the funds they receive under several programs, and selected states and LEAs may consolidate funds under certain programs through performance agreements; (l) federal support of public school choice is expanded; (m) several previous programs are consolidated into a state grant supporting integration of technology into K-12 education; (n) the Bilingual and Emergency Immigrant Education Acts are consolidated into a single formula grant, with existing limits on the share of grants for specific instructional approaches eliminated; and (o) the 21st Century Community Learning Center program is converted into a formula grant with increased focus on after-school activities.

Accountability based on student test results is the heart of the No Child Left Behind Act, which assumes that schools can solve their problems if given proper incentives and technical assistance, and that parents should have educational alternatives if the schools fail to do so. This paper discusses evidence on accountability systems, describes the act's accountability model and its underlying assumptions, and offers educators specific recommendations for effective operation in an era of accountability.

This readable introduction to American public education law is designed to assist practicing educators, college and graduate students, parents, and the public in acting on everyday legal issues such as student expression, church/state separation, student and teacher discipline, curriculum, legislating and lobbying, parent associations, discrimination, special education, No Child Left Behind, student privacy, and more. Unique features include practical situations, the «Facts and Find» research method, and the «Cascade» approach to understanding the American legal system.

The public education system in the United States has always been a pressing matter, subject to continuous debate. Sweeping educational reforms passed in 2001 sharply divided teachers and policy makers over the direction of our nation's schools. This work explores both sides of the debate surrounding this critical issue.