Home > Special Insights Archive > June - July 2003 > The No Child Left Behind Act: One Year Later

President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act a little more than one year ago. Here is a brief look at some of the changes this important piece of legislation has brought about:

• Annual testing in reading and math for grades three to eight has begun in 19 states. All 50 states successfully submitted NCLB accountability plans by the Jan. 31, 2003, deadline. Five states, including New York, had their accountability plans approved on Jan. 8, 2002. Under the NCLB Act, states have until the 2005-06 school year to implement their annual testing systems.
  
  
• One of the biggest improvements has come in teacher quality. NCLB has helped many cities reduce their shortages of qualified teachers. According to a recent report in the Christian Science Monitor (Dec. 26, 2002): "From Buffalo, N.Y., to the San Francisco Bay Area, a host of cities and states are finding more qualified teachers at a time when the shortage was expected only to grow more severe." Among the signs of progress reported by the Christian Science Monitor is that "Buffalo has reduced its number of uncertified teachers by more than one-third since March 2002. School officials there hope to have every teacher certified by next school year."
  
  
• Another area of significance is the element of parental choice. Under NCLB, parents across the country have access to new information, options and a new say in their child's education. On July 1, 2002, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced that as a result of the NCLB Act's Parental Choice Provisions, "parents of students in 8,652 federally funded public schools now qualify to choose and send their children to a better public or charter school in their school district if the school their children currently attend has not met state academic standards for two consecutive years."
  
  
• As of Dec. 2002, 16 states (including N.Y.) had released lists of approved supplemental service providers. Armed with this tool, parents can select a listed provider to offer tutoring and/or other supplemental services to improve upon the education their children are receiving in public schools. ("States Strive Toward ESEA Compliance", L. Olson, Education Week, Dec. 11, 2002).

Those are just some of the instances of how the NCLB Act has changed the way parents of children with special needs do things, but what does the American Public have to say about these reforms? According to a national survey conducted in late December 2002 by the Winston Group:

• 91% of Americans support requiring school districts to give parents annual report cards on overall academic performance.
  
  
• 91% of Americans support requiring states to have a highly qualified teacher in every public classroom by the year 2005.
  
  
• 76% of all Americans support allowing parents with children in under-achieving schools to transfer them to a better public school or to a charter school.
  
  
• 91% of Americans support requiring schools to set and meet goals each year to show that all children are making academic progress.

There is no question that the No Child Left Behind Act has already left - and will continue to leave -- an indelible mark on the future of Special Education in this country. It is up to all affected parents to stay up to date on these changes. For more information on NCLB and its ramifications, feel free to contact us at 332-4170.

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