No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) | ESEA

It's Time for a Change.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEA’s position on ESEA, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is spelled out in the Positive Agenda for ESEA Reauthorization.

ESEA reauthorization is heating up. The Obama Administration has a blueprint for reauthorization that NEA believes has significant problems and raises serious concerns. Of particular concern are a continued reliance on test scores as a means of categorizing schools and evaluating teachers and an emphasis on troubling school turnaround models. Tell Congress to rip out the pages of the blueprint that don't work for kids and replace them with better solutions.

NEA Packets Submitted to Congress:

Take the 10-question survey that will help NEA leaders speak for the membership.

NEA president to Administration: “Takes working together to improve schools”

Testimony of NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, before the United States Senate Health Education, Labor, And Pensions Committee on ESEA Reauthorization: The Importance Of A World-Class K-12 Education For America’s Economic Success.

Tavis Smiley discusses the Administration blueprint for ESEA with NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.

CBS News interviews President Van Roekel on ESEA. (The segment on ESEA begins at 3:27 into the program.)

Our Positions and Actions

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has lofty goals: closing achievement gaps and educating all students to high standards, which NEA fully supports. But NCLB's test-and-punish approach does not move us toward those goals. NEA has made many proposals for rewriting the law. We have laid out broad principles for reform and detailed, line-by-line proposed changes.

NEA lobbyists meet frequently with members of Congress to help them see the real impact of NCLB on our schools. Our most effective lobbyists are NEA members who live with the law every day.

We also work closely with other education, minority, women's, and religious organizations.

Click here to read our key statements.

Our Reasons

Anecdotal and statistical evidence agree that NCLB's punitive, one-size-fits-all strategy has not fostered student learning, nor has it closed achievement gaps.

Click here for links to articles, surveys, and research findings on NCLB.

Background

No Child Left Behind is the current incarnation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which created the Title I federal aid program aimed at reducing achievement gaps between rich and poor and among the races.

Periodically, the law has been changed and reauthorized. No Child Left Behind is the name it was given in 2001. NCLB ties federal dollars to draconian penalties for any school that can not meet a series of one-size-fits-all standards. These penalties especially hurt schools that take on the greatest educational challenges.

Click here for more information on NCLB and "adequate yearly progress" (AYP).

TAKE ACTION

E-mail Legislators about ESEA

Tell Congress to rip out the pages of the blueprint that don't work for kids and replace them with better solutions.

Sign up for the ESEA/NCLB Update , a biweekly email newsletter, to stay on top of the latest news on NCLB and our efforts to improve this law.

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SHARE AND DISCUSS

Change NCLB - But How?

The "No Child Left Behind" law was supposed to dramatically reduce achievement gaps and boost achievement. It has done neither. Now NCLB is overdue for reauthorization, which means it will be changed. What changes would you like to see? What provisions should be kept? How can the federal government really help schools close achievement gaps and improve achievement?

Post your ideas on our discussion board and see what your colleagues are saying.

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