Getting an Education - No Child Left Behind Act

With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in early 2002, sweeping changes were made to the laws defining and regulating the federal government's role in kindergarten through grade twelve education. The law is based on four basic education reform principles. The four principles, as described on the government's No Child Left Behind Web site (http://www.NoChildLeftBehind.gov/next/overview/index.html) are:

• Stronger accountability for results
• Increased flexibility and local control
• Expanded options for parents
• An emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work

Accountability

Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), schools are required to demonstrate "adequate yearly progress" toward statewide proficiency goals, including closing the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged

1Most states have an upper age limit whereby education is provided up to a certain age or completion of secondary school, whichever comes first.
2Ages 6 to 16 or 10th grade completion.
3Must have turned 17 by October 1.
4At least 16 and have graduated high school or passed California High School Proficiency Exam (CHSPE) and obtained parental permission.
5Under 21 or until child graduates from high school.
6Must have turned 5 by August 31.
7State requires either half-day or full-day program.
8Must have turned 16 by September 15.
9Eligible for waiver at 16.
10School age, to be determined in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the state board.
11Must have turned 6 by October 1.
12Must be 5 before October 1, and not 20 before start of school year, assistance in providing coordination of services from birth to age 6.
13Eligible for waiver.
14Age 16 and completion of eighth grade.
15School-age unless otherwise provided by law.
16Age 16 and completion of school year.
17Must not be 21 by September 1.
18State requires both half-day and full-day program.
19Children from birth through two are eligible for additional services. Eligibility for special education services cease upon completion of a secondary education program, no age limit.
20For visually and auditorily impaired individuals under 21.
21Student may complete school year if 21st birthday occurs while attending school.
—Data not available.
Note: The Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) Amendments of 1986 make it mandatory for all states receiving EHA funds to serve all 3- to 18-year-old disabled children.
SOURCE: "Table 150. Ages for Compulsory School Attendance, Special Education Services for Students, Policies for Year-Round Schools and Kindergarten Programs, by State: 1997 and 2000," in Digest of Education Statistics, 2002, National Center for Education Statistics, 2003, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d02/tables/PDF/table150.pdf (accessed September 16, 2004)
Vermont	7 to 16	3 to 21				18X
Virginia	5 to 18	2 to 21		X		18X		X
Washington	138 to 18	213 to 21		X
West Virginia	6 to 16	5 to 21	X	X		X		X
Wisconsin	6 to 18	Under 21		X	X
Wyoming	26 to 16	3 to 21			X

students. Those schools that do not demonstrate progress face corrective action and restructuring measures. Progress reports are public, so parents can stay informed about their school and school district. Schools that are making or exceeding adequate yearly progress are eligible for awards.

The accountability outlined under No Child Left Behind is measured through standards testing. Under NCLB, states are required to establish strong academic standards and test students annually to see how they are meeting them. The requirement for annual testing will be phased in over a six-year period. During the 2002–03 school year, students in grades three to five, six to nine, and ten to twelve were tested in math and reading. Beginning in school year 2005–06, testing will expand to all students in grades three to eight. General science achievement testing will be fully implemented two years later, in the 2007–08 school year. NCLB linked federal financing of schools to the results of these mandated tests.

The provisions of this law related to testing are the subject of much debate. Advocates see testing as a means of raising expectations and helping guarantee that all children are held to the same high standards. They argue that many young people have passed through school without acquiring the basic reading and math skills needed in society and especially in the information-oriented economy. Critics of testing say classroom experiences become limited to the need to teach students with the test in mind—and what is tested is only a sample of what kids should know. Further, critics claim that standards exams tend to test for those things most easily measured and not the critical thinking skills students need to develop.

PROFICIENCY TESTING. The testing requirements of the NCLB will be debated for some time to come as states grapple with the best means of implementing them. Standardized tests have, however, been around for some time. A look at the changes in proficiency test scores over time is one way to gauge the performance of the education system.

In Condition of Education, 2004, the National Center for Education Statistics lists test results for a series of years. The percentage of both fourth- and eighth-graders who tested proficient in reading rose from 29% of both

FIGURE 6.6

groups in 1992 to 31% of fourth-graders and 32% of eighth-graders in 2003. The percentage of fourth-graders at or above proficiency in mathematics rose from 13% in 1992 to 32% in 2003; the percentage of eighth-graders at proficiency rose from 15% in 1992 to 29% in 2003.

Despite these positive results, the public's opinion of school performance has dropped. The National Center for Education Statistics' publication Digest of Education Statistics: 2002 presents data on the grades that the public gives to schools nationally. Based on a scale of A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, and F=0, the average grade given by adults to schools in 1985 was 2.14. In 2001 the average grade had dropped to 2.01. When adults with children in the school system were asked to rate their school, they gave a grade of 2.20 in 1985 and a grade of 2.04 in 2001, higher than the scores given by the general adult population but also declining over the period.

Another way to evaluate the educational system in the United States is to compare it with the systems of other industrialized countries. In May 2003 the National Center for Education Statistics published a study entitled Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries: 2002. The study was designed to compare the U.S. education system with the systems in seven other highly industrialized nations: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom. Eighth-grade students in the United States had a mean mathematics achievement score of 502, below that of Japan (579), Canada (531), and the Russian Federation (526), but higher than that of the other countries for which this measure was reported—England (496) and Italy (479). The score for mean science achievement obtained by students in the United States was (515), higher than the score for Italy (493), but below all the other countries for which this measure was reported. Fifteen-year-olds in the United States scored the same on the reading literacy scale (504) as students in France, Italy, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, but below those in Canada.

Flexibility

The No Child Left Behind Act gave states and local school districts more control over the federal funding they

TABLE 6.7

Percentage of high school dropouts (status dropouts) among persons 16–24 years old, by sex, race, and ethnicity, 1960–2001
	Total				Men				Women
Year	All races Hispanic	White, non-Hispanic	Black, non-Hispanic	Hispanic origin	All races Hispanic	White, non-Hispanic	Black, non-Hispanic	Hispanic origin	All races Hispanic	White, non-Hispanic	Black, non-Hispanic	Hispanic origin
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
—Not available.
1Based on the April 1960 decennial census.
2White and black include persons of Hispanic origin.
3Because of changes in data collection procedures, data may not be comparable with figures for earlier years.
Note: "Status" dropouts are 16- to 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in school and who have not completed a high school program regardless of when they left school. People who have received GED credentials are counted as high school completers. All data except for 1960 are based on October counts. Data are based upon sample surveys of the civilian noninstitutionalized population.
SOURCE: "Table 108. Percent of High School Dropouts (Status Dropouts) among Persons 16 to 24 Years Old, by Sex and Race/Ethnicity: April 1960 to October 2001," in Digest of Education Statistics, 2002, National Center for Education Statistics, 2003, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d02/tables/dt108.asp (accessed September 16, 2004)
19601	27.2	—	—	—	27.8	—	—	—	26.7	—	—	—
19672	17.0	15.4	28.6	—	16.5	14.7	30.6	—	17.3	16.1	26.9	—
19682	16.2	14.7	27.4	—	15.8	14.4	27.1	—	16.5	15.0	27.6	—
19692	15.2	13.6	26.7	—	14.3	12.6	26.9	—	16.0	14.6	26.7	—
19702	15.0	13.2	27.9	—	14.2	12.2	29.4	—	15.7	14.1	26.6	—
19712	14.7	13.4	23.7	—	14.2	12.6	25.5	—	15.2	14.2	22.1	—
1972	14.6	12.3	21.3	34.3	14.1	11.6	22.3	33.7	15.1	12.8	20.5	34.8
1973	14.1	11.6	22.2	33.5	13.7	11.5	21.5	30.4	14.5	11.8	22.8	36.4
1974	14.3	11.9	21.2	33.0	14.2	12.0	20.1	33.8	14.3	11.8	22.1	32.2
1975	13.9	11.4	22.9	29.2	13.3	11.0	23.0	26.7	14.5	11.8	22.9	31.6
1976	14.1	12.0	20.5	31.4	14.1	12.1	21.2	30.3	14.2	11.8	19.9	32.3
1977	14.1	11.9	19.8	33.0	14.5	12.6	19.5	31.6	13.8	11.2	20.0	34.3
1978	14.2	11.9	20.2	33.3	14.6	12.2	22.5	33.6	13.9	11.6	18.3	33.1
1979	14.6	12.0	21.1	33.8	15.0	12.6	22.4	33.0	14.2	11.5	20.0	34.5
1980	14.1	11.4	19.1	35.2	15.1	12.3	20.8	37.2	13.1	10.5	17.7	33.2
1981	13.9	11.3	18.4	33.2	15.1	12.5	19.9	36.0	12.8	10.2	17.1	30.4
1982	13.9	11.4	18.4	31.7	14.5	12.0	21.2	30.5	13.3	10.8	15.9	32.8
1983	13.7	11.1	18.0	31.6	14.9	12.2	19.9	34.3	12.5	10.1	16.2	29.1
1984	13.1	11.0	15.5	29.8	14.0	11.9	16.8	30.6	12.3	10.1	14.3	29.0
1985	12.6	10.4	15.2	27.6	13.4	11.1	16.1	29.9	11.8	9.8	14.3	25.2
1986	12.2	9.7	14.2	30.1	13.1	10.3	15.0	32.8	11.4	9.1	13.5	27.2
1987	12.6	10.4	14.1	28.6	13.2	10.8	15.0	29.1	12.1	10.0	13.3	28.1
1988	12.9	9.6	14.5	35.8	13.5	10.3	15.0	36.0	12.2	8.9	14.0	35.4
1989	12.6	9.4	13.9	33.0	13.6	10.3	14.9	34.4	11.7	8.5	13.0	31.6
1990	12.1	9.0	13.2	32.4	12.3	9.3	11.9	34.3	11.8	8.7	14.4	30.3
1991	12.5	8.9	13.6	35.3	13.0	8.9	13.5	39.2	11.9	8.9	13.7	31.1
19923	11.0	7.7	13.7	29.4	11.3	8.0	12.5	32.1	10.7	7.4	14.8	26.6
19933	11.0	7.9	13.6	27.5	11.2	8.2	12.6	28.1	10.9	7.6	14.4	26.9
19943	11.4	7.7	12.6	30.0	12.3	8.0	14.1	31.6	10.6	7.5	11.3	28.1
19953	12.0	8.6	12.1	30.0	12.2	9.0	11.1	30.0	11.7	8.2	12.9	30.0
19963	11.1	7.3	13.0	29.4	11.4	7.3	13.5	30.3	10.9	7.3	12.5	28.3
19973	11.0	7.6	13.4	25.3	11.9	8.5	13.3	27.0	10.1	6.7	13.5	23.4
19983	11.8	7.7	13.8	29.5	13.3	8.6	15.5	33.5	10.3	6.9	12.2	25.0
19993	11.2	7.3	12.6	28.6	11.9	7.7	12.1	31.0	10.5	6.9	13.0	26.0
20003	10.9	6.9	13.1	27.8	12.0	7.0	15.3	31.8	9.9	6.9	11.1	23.5
20013	10.7	7.3	10.9	27.0	12.2	7.9	13.0	31.6	9.3	6.7	9.0	22.1

receive for education. Up to half of all non-Title I federal education funding can be allocated by states to whichever programs they wish. Federal programs were also simplified and consolidated under the law, so receiving funding is easier.

Parental Options

No Child Left Behind provided that parents of students attending failing schools would be provided with the opportunity and transportation to send their child to an alternative public or charter school. If the parent chose to keep their child in a failing school, federal Title I funds would be available for supplemental services such as tutoring and summer school, run by either nonsectarian or faith-based organizations. The creation and use of charter schools were expanded under NCLB.

Proven Educational Methods

No Child Left Behind attached federal funding to programs that had already been shown to help children learn. Emphasis was placed on the Reading First initiative, more than tripling funding for reading programs from $300 million in fiscal year 2001 to a proposed $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2005. In addition, a new Early Reading First program was established to support literacy skills among preschool-age children to try to meet President George W. Bush's goal of every child being able to read by the third grade. Teacher quality programs received $2.8 billion in fiscal year 2001 for hiring new teachers, increasing teacher salaries, and improving teacher training and development; President Bush proposed $2.9 billion for teacher professional development in fiscal year 2005.