No Child Left Behind
NCLB 2009 Report Card for Devers ISD
NCLB 2010 Report Card for Devers ISD
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (No Child Left Behind) is a
landmark in education reform designed to improve student
achievement and change the culture of America's schools. President
George W. Bush describes this law as the "cornerstone of my
administration." Clearly, our children are our future, and, as
President Bush has expressed, "Too many of our neediest children
are being left behind."
With passage of No Child Left Behind, Congress reauthorized the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--the principal
federal law affecting education from kindergarten through high
school. In amending ESEA, the new law represents a sweeping
overhaul of federal efforts to support elementary and secondary
education in the United States. It is built on four common-sense
pillars: accountability for results; an emphasis on doing what
works based on scientific research; expanded parental options; and
expanded local control and flexibility.
What No Child Left Behind Does for Parents and Children
Supports learning in the early years, thereby preventing many
learning difficulties that may arise later
Children who enter school with language skills and pre-reading
skills (e.g., understanding that print reads from left to right and
top to bottom) are more likely to learn to read well in the early
grades and succeed in later years. In fact, research shows that
most reading problems faced by adolescents and adults are the
result of problems that could have been prevented through good
instruction in their early childhood years (Snow, Burns and Griffin
1998). It is never too early to start building language skills by
talking with and reading to children. No Child Left Behind targets
resources for early childhood education so that all youngsters get
the right start.
Provides more information for parents about their child's
progress
Under No Child Left Behind, each state must measure every public
school student's progress in reading and math in each of grades 3
through 8 and at least once during grades 10 through 12. By school
year 2007-2008, assessments (or testing) in science will be
underway. These assessments must be aligned with state academic
content and achievement standards. They will provide parents with
objective data on where their child stands academically.
Alerts parents to important information on the performance of
their child's school
No Child Left Behind requires states and school districts to
give parents easy-to-read, detailed report cards on schools and
districts, telling them which ones are succeeding and why. Included
in the report cards are student achievement data broken out by
race, ethnicity, gender, English language proficiency, migrant
status, disability status and low-income status; as well as
important information about the professional qualifications of
teachers. With these provisions, No Child Left Behind ensures that
parents have important, timely information about the schools their
children attend--whether they are performing well or not for all
children, regardless of their background.
Gives children and parents a lifeline
In this new era of education, children will no longer be trapped
in the dead end of low-performing schools. Under No Child Left
Behind, such schools must use their federal funds to make needed
improvements. In the event of a school's continued poor
performance, parents have options to ensure that their children
receive the high-quality education to which they are entitled. That
might mean that children can transfer to higher-performing schools
in the area or receive supplemental educational services in the
community, such as tutoring, after-school programs or remedial
classes.
Improves teaching and learning by providing better information to
teachers and principals
Annual tests to measure children's progress provide teachers
with independent information about each child's strengths and
weaknesses. With this knowledge, teachers can craft lessons to make
sure each student meets or exceeds the standards. In addition,
principals can use the data to assess exactly how much progress
each teacher's students have made and to better inform decisions
about how to run their schools.
Ensures that teacher quality is a high priority
No Child Left Behind defines the qualifications needed by
teachers and paraprofessionals who work on any facet of classroom
instruction. It requires that states develop plans to achieve the
goal that all teachers of core academic subjects be highly
qualified by the end of the 2005-06 school year. States must
include in their plans annual, measurable objectives that each
local school district* and school must meet in moving toward the
goal; they must report on their progress in the annual report
cards.
Gives more resources to schools
Today, more than $7,000 on average is spent per pupil by local,
state and federal taxpayers. States and local school districts are
now receiving more federal funding than ever before for all
programs under No Child Left Behind: $23.7 billion, most of which
will be used during the 2003-04 school year. This represents an
increase of 59.8 percent from 2000 to 2003. A large portion of
these funds is for grants under Title I of ESEA: Improving the
Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged. Title I grants are
awarded to states and local education agencies to help states and
school districts improve the education of disadvantaged students;
turn around low-performing schools; improve teacher quality; and
increase choices for parents. (For more about Title I, see the
introductory paragraph to Q-and-As.) For fiscal year (FY) 2003,
funding for Title I alone is $11.7 billion--an increase of 33
percent since the passage of No Child Left Behind. President Bush's
FY 2004 budget request would increase spending on Title I by 48
percent since he took office.
Allows more flexibility
In exchange for the strong accountability, No Child Left Behind
gives states and local education agencies more flexibility in the
use of their federal education funding. As a result, principals and
administrators spend less time filling out forms and dealing with
federal red tape. They have more time to devote to students' needs.
They have more freedom to implement innovations and allocate
resources as policymakers at the state and local levels see fit,
thereby giving local people a greater opportunity to affect
decisions regarding their schools' programs.
Focuses on what works
No Child Left Behind puts a special emphasis on implementing
educational programs and practices that have been clearly
demonstrated to be effective through rigorous scientific research.
Federal funding will be targeted to support such programs. For
example, the Reading First program makes federal funds available to
help reading teachers in the early grades strengthen old skills and
gain new ones in instructional techniques that scientifically based
research has shown to be effective.
Why No Child Left Behind Is Important to America
Federal Spending on K-12 Education under the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act and NAEP Reading Scores (Age 9)
Note: Appropriations for ESEA do not include funding for special
education. Reading scores are the average scores for 9-year-olds,
according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP). A score of 200 implies an ability to understand, combine
ideas and make inferences based on short, uncomplicated passages
about specific or sequentially related information.
*Reflects the President's budget request for 2004.
Source: U.S. Department of Education Budget Service and NAEP
1999 Trends in Academic Progress.
Since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act first passed
Congress in 1965, the federal government has spent more than $242
billion through 2003 to help educate disadvantaged children. Yet,
the achievement gap in this country between rich and poor and white
and minority students remains wide. According to the most recent
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on reading in
2000, only 32 percent of fourth-graders can read at a proficient
level and thereby demonstrate solid academic achievement; and while
scores for the highest-performing students have improved over time,
those of America's lowest-performing students have declined
(National Assessment of Educational Progress 2001).
The good news is that some schools in cities and towns across
the nation are creating high achievement for children with a
history of low performance. If some schools can do it, then all
schools should be able to do it.
United for Results
Because of No Child Left Behind:
Parents will know their children's strengths and weaknesses and
how well schools are performing; they will have other options and
resources for helping their children if their schools are
chronically in need of improvement.
Teachers will have the training and resources they need for
teaching effectively, using curricula that are grounded in
scientifically based research; annual testing lets them know areas
in which students need extra attention.
Principals will have information they need to strengthen their
schools' weaknesses and to put into practice methods and strategies
backed by sound, scientific research.
Superintendents will be able to see which of their schools and
principals are doing the best job and which need help to
improve.
School boards will be able to measure how their districts are
doing and to measure their districts in relation to others across
the state; they will have more and better information on which to
base decisions about priorities in their districts.
Chief state school officers will know how the schools in their
states and in other states are doing; they will be better able to
pinpoint where guidance and resources are needed.
Governors will have a yearly report card on how their states'
schools are doing; they will be able to highlight accomplishments
of the best schools and target help to those schools that are in
need of improvement.
Community leaders and volunteer groups will have information
they can use to rally their members in efforts to help children and
schools that need the most help.
