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Elementary and Secondary Education Act, No Child Left Behind Act

Reformulating “No Child Left Behind Act” the Pelosi Way



Congress passed in 1965 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which provided federal funding for K-12 education. The ESEA encompasses Title I, the federal government’s flagship aid program for disadvantaged students. The ESEA has been renewed eight times, most recently by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
The NCLB Act of 2001 was signed into law by President Bush on January 8, 2002. The No Child Left Behind Act was intended to push student achievement by holding states and schools accountable for student progress. The bill appeared well intentioned; however, it was an attempt to transform education by government control without holding parents accountable for their children’s educational progress at all. Six areas were emphasized in the No Child Left Behind Act:

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Annual Testing: Students in grades 3-8 were to begin testing by 2005-06 school year in reading and mathematics. Testing in science had to be done beginning with 2007-08 school year at least once in elementary, middle, and high school. Schools and teachers designed the curriculum so that most of the teaching was tailored to test taking and not to long-term retention of knowledge. Academic Progress: States had to bring all students up to the "proficient" level on state tests by the 2013-14 school year. A formula in the law required certain schools to meet state “adequate yearly progress” for all students and certain demographic groups. Title I funding schools who failed the educational targets two years in a row would receive assistance and students could attend other public schools. If such schools failed three years in a row, private tutoring was offered. Schools with constant failures to meet targets would be subjected to leadership change. Report Cards: States and school districts were required to show student-achievement data broken down by subgroups and school-by-school, starting with 2002-2003 school year. Teacher Qualifications: By the end of the 2005-06 school year, every public school teacher in core content areas had to be "highly qualified" in the subject he/she taught. “Highly qualified" meant that a teacher was licensed and demonstrably proficient in his/her subject matter. Most teachers were College of Education graduates who performed in the bottom 50th percentile on the National Teacher Exam. Certification was not difficult to obtain for a College of Education graduate. Certification, varying from state to state, was a very complex and time-consuming process for graduates with College of Arts and Science degrees. A teacher with advanced degrees from a College of Arts and Science could not teach in public schools without mandatory certification. The best and brightest graduates with degrees in fields such as math, science, Foreign Languages, English, history could teach college but not public school students. Teacher unions were very protective of their College of Education graduates to the detriment of our children. Reading First: “The act created a new competitive-grant program called Reading First, funded at $1.02 billion in 2004, to help states and districts set up "scientific, research-based" reading programs for children in grades K-3 (with priority given to high-poverty areas). A smaller early-reading program sought to help states better prepare 3- to 5-year-olds in disadvantaged areas to read. The program's funding was later cut drastically by Congress amid budget talks.” (Education Week) Funding Changes: By altering the Title I funding formula, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) targeted resources to school districts with high concentrations of poor children. The NCLB had provisions to give states and districts more flexibility in how they spent part of their federal money.
On October 19, 2011, the Senate began the markup of Senator Tom Harkin’s (D-IA) 860-page proposal to revamp and rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). His strategy is the same as Nancy Pelosi’s strategy for Obamacare, “you will have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.” The proposal will have new regulations added to already burdened school districts with the goal of maintaining and increasing the current Department of Education control of public education. The Senate has not had time to read the bill nor had it received input from those whom it seeks to control. Senator Rand Paul said, “The bill is 860 pages and we got it yesterday, and I talked to committee members today and said this isn’t the way government should work. I thought we’d have hearings. We’ve had zero hearings on No Child Left Behind. I would think we’d have several significant hearings…Bring in the teachers, bring in the superintendents, bring in the principals and find out more about it. We’ve had none of that, and I think it’s rotten.” Senator Rand Paul is going to introduce 100 amendments, including a complete repeal of NCLB, in order to slow down the committee and force them to take time to consider everything in Harkin’s proposal. School districts were already screaming for freedom from the federal red tape of NCLB, wanting their decision-making authority back. States should have been allowed to opt out of the No Child Left Behind and to spend dollars specifically to meet their needs. Federal control has not worked in the past, as evidenced by poor student performance and test scores. Another bill crafted behind closed doors, the Harkin proposal places emphasis on “equitable distribution” of teachers among schools and replaces existing federal standards with requirements that states prove they have “college- and career-ready” standards, giving the Department of Education in Washington, D.C. more control over the content taught in local schools. Americans thought public school textbooks contained too much revisionist history. Wait until the Obama education team takes control of textbook contents now. States who want and need Title I funds must jump through the hoops of the “Obama Administration’s new Common Core standards,” all 860 pages drafted behind closed doors. (Heritage Foundation) .


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Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh -- Bio and Archives

Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh, Ileana Writes is a freelance writer, author, radio commentator, and speaker. Her books, “Echoes of Communism”, “Liberty on Life Support” and “U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy,” “Communism 2.0: 25 Years Later” are available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle.


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