No Child Left Behind Act

By: Katherine Parthum, Haley Smith, Abby Belcrest, and Meghan Berkery

ProvisionsAssessments will be created in each state to measure know and

have learned in reading and math for grades 3-8. The students progress and achievement will be measured according to these tests that will be given to every child every year.

It provides federal and state funding to schools who do well on standardized testing

Supplemental Educational Services: Children from low-income families can be enrolled in free extra academic help if they go to a school that has been in need of improvement for over one year.

Public School Choice: if a child is in a failing public school their parent has the ability to transfer theirchild to a better-performing public or charter school.

When Was this Piece of Legislation Passed?

The No Child Left Behind Act was proposed by the Bush Administration shortly after he took office.

It was pushed through the Senate by Ted Kennedy who was also one of the co-authors.

It was passed by the House of Representatives on May 23, 2001.

It was passed by the U.S. Senate on June 14, 2001.

President George W. Bush signed it law on January 8, 2002.

REasons

Raise Student Achievement (set goals in standardized testing and fund according to the results)

Close Gaps in achievement (make sure as many children receive a good education as possible)

Help the Quality of Education - put pressure on states and school systems to educate children

Main Argument PROPONENTS: Increased quality of education,

emphasize test results

OPPONENTS: Not effective enough (especially not in high school), worsens teacher shortage, and permanent loss of state control

Passing No Child Left Behind Act passed through the House and the Senate

without controversy

It was so easy to pass at the time because of all of its positive claims: -setting a high, reachable standard for all public schools -improving test score -educational funding -academic improvement

House of Representatives passed - voting 384 - 45; passed on May 23, 2001

Senate passed - voting 91-8; passed on June 14, 2001

President George W. Bush signed this act into law on January 8, 2002

Passing this act was so easy because of Senator Ted Kennedy, he played a major role in promoting this act.

Issues with FederalismFederalism has always been a heated issue in government. Some want the states to have

control over education while others want states to have control. When George W. Bush enacted the

No Child Left Behind Act, many issues arose. The main argument is that education is a matter of the state government, in the Tenth Amendment it

says that if a power is not given to the federal government by the constitution than it is the states

power. The power over education is not an enumerated power, therefore the federal government

has over stepped its bounds.

Liberals do not feel that the No Child Left Behind Act is really doing anything. They see that the

improvement rate in some areas is a very small portion and do not feel that all of the work that has to be done to carry out the testing is worth it. They

look at the top students, that participate in these tests, are not particularly improving. While the

bottom percent students are making huge gains.

The Liberal position (Brookings)

The Conservative View(Heritage)

The Conservatives feel that this whole act has failed. They say that federal education spending

has tripled, while student achievement has generally stagnated. They want to put the

money and the decision making about education back into the states, localities, and ultimately,

parents.

The Libertarian view(CATO)

The Libertarian view is that No Child Left Behind has been ineffective in achieving its intended

goals. They feel that it has had negative unintended consequences, that it is incompatible with policies that do work, and that it is based on assumptions that are primarily flawed. They feel

that the No Child Left Behind Act oversteps the federal government's enumerated powers.

In short the Libertarians are highly against the No Child Left Behind Act.

BoundariesThe main issue regarding NCLB is ultimately the question of

jurisdiction

Does the federal government possess the right to control education?

Is the government interfering with the 10th Amendment?

With NCLB, the government is not simply providing funding for states as in the past. A standard, complete with consequences has been set. Have the lines of the Constitution been crossed?

Our Opinion:Ineffective.

Although the legislation was created with goals of improving the standards of the nation, its aims were too lofty and idealistic (100%

by 2014).

In addition: The method of standardized testing is ineffective and surprisingly

not standardized throughout the country resulting in incorrect results

Although improvements have been made (i.e. increased scores of 4th graders), they have not been significant enough to justify the

amount of spending

Schools are neglecting other important facets of education (music, arts, humanities, etc) in order to pump up the “core” areas of math,

science, reading, and writing

And Also...

Unfunded federal mandate, if there were not enough funds that were required, the legislation

would not be passes.