The No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act, which President Bush signed into law Jan. 8, 2002, is the first nationwide school reform initiative in decades, considerably increasing the federal government's role in K-12 education. Since its passage, school districts have rushed to integrate the new act into their system to avoid facing a possible state takeover.

The new legislation effectively overhauled the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and has shifted the nation's educational focus to national standards and testing. The act requires states to create new standards in math and reading immediately and in science for the 2005-06 school year. It also calls for testing in three grade spans each year: grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12. Starting in the 2005-06 school year, tests will be administered every year in grades 3 through 8 in math and reading. States must file their final plans for implementation by January 2003.

One of the act's central tenets, stronger accountability for student results, requires schools to measure student progress annually and make "adequate yearly progress" toward state standards. School performance results will be reported on district and state report cards and if the district or school continually fails to make adequate progress toward the standards, the act allows states more leverage to reorganize schools. Under the act, schools have 12 years to bring all students up to proficiency.

The act requires failing schools to offer free tutoring by for-profit companies or allow students to attend a better performing public school. If a school consistently fails to meet the requirements, state officials could determine whether they should take over the school, or whether it should be privatized or converted into a charter school.

Critics, however, question whether schools can comply with the act's stringent requirements and speedy timetable. A report commissioned by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, an education think tank, asks whether testing companies will be able to meet the demand for designing new tests, and how schools will be able to show steady improvement with no official guidelines. The uncertainty of what will happen to hundreds of schools across the country that are unable to meet strict federal standards has left some school employees scrambling for solutions, the foundation says.

"On paper, this is a swell design for making each level of the system deliver satisfactory progress, repair itself or submit to an involuntary overhaul by the next level up," said Chester E. Finn Jr. president of Fordham. "Terrific, so long as the capacity is there. But I keep thinking of those 9,000 schools that are already in trouble, those districts where many schools have been in trouble for years, and those thinly staffed state education departments that have seldom shown the will or know-how to run schools or turn around failed school systems."

National Education Association President Reg Weaver said he also found flaws in the act's requirements.

"I don't think there is enough flexibility there," Weaver told The Washington Post. "This is something that will need monitoring and revising."

But supporters of the act, like Education Secretary Rod Paige, say that its call for accountability can help to ensure all students receive the same access to quality education.

"Only if we hold schools and school districts accountable for the improved achievement of all students will we meet the goal of leaving no child behind and ensure that every child learns, every school has the opportunity to improve and every dollar is spent wisely for those purposes," Paige said.

By Raven Tyler, Online NewsHour