What Parents and Students Need to Know About the No Child Left Behind Act What is the history of No Child Left Behind? In 1965, the federal government passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to promote achievement among poor and disadvantaged students. The regulations stipulated that state education systems had to comply with the new law in order to receive federal education dollars. Each year the government grants funding to the states, but every five or six years it must decide to continue to use, or reauthorize, ESEA regulations. The Bush administration decided in 2001 to reauthorize ESEA, and rename it the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. What does No Child Left Behind mean for my state? NCLB creates new federal regulations in areas previously governed by the states. For example, NCLB establishes criteria to be applied to all schools for: standards and student testing school accountability systems educator quality safe schools First, each state must implement a single statewide accountability system based on federal regulations. Second, each state must comply with new requirements by defining what is meant by "Highly Qualified" educators. Third, each state must define what is meant by "safe" and "unsafe" schools. Visit your state board of education's Web site for information on these three aspects of NCLB as they relate to the state where you live. What is Title 1, and is my school a Title 1 school? The first part of NCLB is Title 1, the best-known section of the law. Under Title 1, billions of education dollars are divided among the states. States must adhere to the regulations mentioned above to receive a portion of the Title 1 funding. States and districts are accountable for assessing each child's progress toward meeting state educational standards and for reporting the progress students are making toward the educational standards. The best way to determine if your child's school is a Title 1 school is to ask school officials. What is a school report card? Each school district must provide annual local report cards that include information on how students in the district and in each school performed on state assessments. The report cards must state student performance in terms of three levels: basic, proficient, and advanced. Achievement data must be broken out according to race, ethnicity, gender, English language proficiency, migrant status, disability status, and low-income status. What is Adequate Yearly Progress? No Child Left Behind requires each state to define "adequate yearly progress" for school districts and schools. In defining "adequate yearly progress," each state sets minimum levels of improvement—measurable in terms of student performance—that school districts and schools must achieve within time frames specified in the law. Essentially, it works like this: Each state begins by setting a "starting point" that is based on the performance of its lowest-achieving demographic group or of the lowest-achieving schools in the state, whichever is higher. The state then sets the level of student achievement that a school must reach after two years in order to continue to show adequate yearly progress. Subsequent achievement rates must be raised at least once every three years, until, at the end of 12 years, all students in the state are achieving at the proficient level on state assessments in reading/language arts and math. What if my child's school is not improving? NCLB creates a time line that schools must follow to correct weaknesses in achievement. A school that has not made adequate yearly progress for two consecutive school years will be identified by the district before the beginning of the next school year as needing improvement. Students must be offered the option of transferring to another public school in the district that has not been identified as needing school improvement. The district must pay to transport the child to the school of his or her choice within the district. If the school continues to fail to meet academic achievement expectations, the district must pay to hire tutors for children who attend the schools. NCLB carefully outlines the steps that will be followed to protect students and communities from underachieving schools. Consequences for Failing to Meet AYP After 1 Year None - Schools should use this information to correct the problems that exist. After 2 Years Schools must: Notify parents Give parents the option to transfer their students to a higher performing school within the same district Use federal funds to pay the transfer costs for students Determine a plan to improve After 3 Years Schools must: Do all of the above Use federal funds to make tutoring and other supplemental programs available to students After 4 Years Schools must: Take corrective action, which can include replacing staff, developing a new curriculum, restructuring the school, extending the school year, bringing in an expert, and/or decreasing management authority at the school After 6 Years The school will be restructured, perhaps as a charter school, private school, or state managed school. What can I do to help my child and my child's school? Parents may help their child's school in a number of ways, including: Attending parent-teacher meetings or special meetings to address academic problems at the school; Volunteering to serve as needed; encouraging other parents to become involved; Learning about the school's special challenges, community resources and the No Child Left Behind Act; The school will be restructured, perhaps as a charter school, private school, or state managed school. with their school board members, principals, and other state and local education leaders about which programs they think will help their students the most. This article was contributed by Janice Christy, M.Ed., English Department Chair, Louisa County High School, Louisa, Virginia.