No Child Left Behind

8 Pages 2121 Words

On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act (Public Law 107-110). Because the U.S. Constitution does not designate a public education role for the federal government, the responsibility of K – 12 education is in the hands of each individual state. The federal government, who has an interest in the quality of the nation’s public schools, has passed legislature to provide assistance to the states and schools. The No Child Left Behind Act builds on the foundation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), first passed in 1965, whose primary purpose was to improve educational opportunity for economically disadvantaged students.
In researching the topic of NCLB I have found many differing opinions, both positive and negative, regarding the act as well as it’s implications on our nation as a whole. In order to fully explore this topic we must first attempt to understand the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act. Once we have reviewed this we can then explore its affects thus far, long term affects, opposing views and how we can make this law work for us as both educators and parents.
Before we can discuss the No Child Left Behind Act in great detail we must first understand the act which it is a revision of. The ESEA or Elementary and Secondary Education Act was first passed in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson. The ESEA was President Johnson’s first bill in his War on Poverty program. In 1966 an amendment to the ESEA added Title VI. This amendment added grants for “handicapped” children but in 1970 broke off from the ESEA. It is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Act. Throughout the history of the ESEA the federal government expanded the act to include bilingual education, minority education, education in correctional facilities, safe and drug free schools, arts education, library and media services, neglected and delinquent youth, as...