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Page Outline:

1. Basic Facts
2. Four Pillars of NCLB
3. Helpful or Harmful?
4. What Is Washington Doing?
5. Sources

Basic Facts

•    NCLB consists of four parts: “accountability for results, more choices for parents, greater local control and flexibilty, and an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research.”¹

Four Pillars of NCLB

1) Stronger Accountability for Results
In order to “close the achievement gap,” the federal government has required all public schools to be academically assessed and given an annual report card. Those schools which do not meet federal progress standards are required to “provide supplemental services, such as free tutoring or after school assistance; take corrective actions; and if still not making adequate progress after five years, make dramatic changes to the way the school is run.”²

So, what are the results? Find out how your own state’s educational system is fairing under the NCLB by visiting the Department of Education’s Mapping Educational Progress 2008 Webpage.

2) More Freedom for States and Communities

Under the NCLB Act, many school districts are able to “transfer up to 50 percent of the federal formula grant funds they receive under the Improving Teacher Quality State Grants, Educational Technology, Innovative Programs, and Safe and Drug-Free Schools programs to any one of these programs or to their Title I program, without separate approval.”³ In other words, one purpose of the the NCLB is to eliminate some degree of federal red tape.

3) Proven Education Methods

According to the United States Department of Education, the NCLB “puts emphasis on determining which educational programs and practices have been proven effective through rigorous scientific research.”⁴ An example of a “proven” method supported by the NCLB Act is the Reading First program.⁵

4) More Choices for Parents

If a public school does not “meet state standards for at least two consecutive years, parents may transfer their children to a better-performing school, including a public charter school, within their district.”⁶ Furthermore, the school district must provide the child or children with transportation to the new school. Also, children who are from “low-income families” who attend a school which does not “meet state standards for at least three years” may “receive supplemental educational services, including tutoring, after-school services, and summer school.”⁷

Helpful or Harmful?

Progress

According to an article by USA Today, a 2007 study conducted by the Center on Education Policy, “shows that students seem to be improving in both math and reading” and that the “achievement gaps between white and minority students have closed somewhat since 2002.”⁸ However, the article also stated that the president of the Center, Jack Jennings, has publicly remarked that the progress cited in the study might not “solely” exist because of NCLB, but could also have come about as a result of a combination of factors.⁹

Criticism

According to USA Today, “Conservatives say the law intrudes too heavily on local decision-making abilities; liberals say its annual testing provisions waste precious class time and are unfair to students in low-income areas.”¹⁰

What Is Washington Doing?

New Education Secretary Arne Duncan on NCLB

•    According to Time, Duncan has staunchly supported budget increases for NCLB. ¹¹ It is assumed that Arne Duncan will continue to support NCLB as education secretary, although most likely making various changes to the program.

•    During a Congressional hearing in August of 2006, Duncan stated that it was his belief that “Congress should maintain NCLB’s framework of high expectations and accountability” while “amend[ing] the law to give schools, districts and states the maximum amount [of] flexibility possible.”¹² Also during this hearing, Duncan challenged Congress to “double the funding for NCLB within five years.”¹³

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Sources