Chapter 11: No Child Left Behind: A Debate

Signed into law in January 2002, P.L. 107-110, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which also reauthorized the LBJ-era Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is a sprawling piece of legislation that touches on hundreds of education issues, big and little. It ranges from bilingual education to “impact aid” to homeless children to magnet schools to (I kid you not) cultural exchanges between Massachusetts and Hawaii that have something vaguely to do with the fact that “whaling” is part of their shared past.

NCLB is best known, however, for its numerous and complex provisions bearing on state academic standards, testing, accountability systems, and teacher qualifications, all in pursuit of an ambitious effort to boost the academic performance of disadvantaged children, to close some long-lasting achievement gaps, and to solve the problem of unsuccessful schools.