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No Child Left Behind:
Resources for Principals
Less than one year after taking office
in January, 2001, President George Bush signed into
law the No Child Left Behind Act, the most sweeping
set of changes to be made in the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act since its adoption in 1965. Naturally,
such dramatic measures, many of which confront decades-old
state prerogatives in education, have not proceeded
without controversy. However, even as the debate rages
in educational circles, state legislatures, and local
policy making bodies, tremendous changes are occurring,
the results of which will reverberate through every
school in America.
Principals were among the first to understand
the dramatic consequences of NCLB for their schools,
their students and their communities. As the on-site
leader for all school reform, the demands of NCLB have
fallen very heavily on the principal and his or her
key staff. The first steps in meeting the challenges
presented by NCLB include understanding the Act and
its potential impact on local schools, locating resources
that support the initiatives required by NCLB, and organizing
faculty and school staff to assure that the challenges
are met and the best interests of America’s students
are well-served.
This article outlines the major provisions
of the NCLB Act and identifies online resources that
will assist Partnership principals in addressing the
demands of this sweeping set of reforms in their own
schools. The explanation of the Act is adapted from
the U. S. Department of Education’s NCLB Executive
Summary (http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/esea/summary.html).
The resource guide is divided into the following sections:
U.S. Government Information on NCLB; Leaders and Leadership;
Instructional Leadership Resources for NCLB; Analysis
and Criticism of NCLB; Legal Issues and Resources; and
State NCLB Websites.
What the Act Requires
Increased Accountability
The NCLB Act requires States to implement statewide
accountability systems covering all public schools and
students. These systems must be based on challenging
State standards in reading and mathematics, annual testing
for all students in grades 3-8, and annual statewide
progress objectives ensuring that all groups of students
reach proficiency within 12 years. Assessment results
and State progress objectives must be broken out by
poverty, race, ethnicity, disability, and limited English
proficiency.
School districts and schools that fail to make adequate
yearly progress (AYP) toward statewide proficiency goals
will, over time, be subject to improvement, corrective
action, and restructuring measures (including closure
and reassignment of staff) aimed at getting them back
on course to meet State standards. Schools that meet
or exceed AYP objectives or close achievement gaps will
be eligible for State Academic Achievement Awards.
More Choices for Parents
and Students
The NCLB Act significantly increases the choices available
to the parents of students attending Title I schools
that fail to meet State standards, including immediate
relief-beginning with the 2002-03 school year-for students
in schools that were previously identified for improvement
or corrective action under the 1994 ESEA reauthorization.
LEAs must give students attending schools
identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring
the opportunity to attend a better public school, which
may include a public charter school, within the school
district. The district must provide transportation to
the new school, and must use at least 5 percent of its
Title I funds for this purpose, if needed.
For students attending persistently failing
schools (those that have failed to meet State standards
for at least 3 of the 4 preceding years), LEAs must
permit low-income students to use Title I funds to obtain
supplemental educational services from the public- or
private-sector provider selected by the students and
their parents. Providers must meet State standards and
offer services tailored to help participating students
meet challenging State academic standards.
The new law requires school districts
to spend up to 20 percent of their Title I allocations
to provide school choice and supplemental educational
services to eligible students. In addition to corrective
measures, choice and supplemental service requirements
provide a substantial incentive for low-performing schools
to improve. Schools that want to avoid losing students-along
with the portion of their annual budgets typically associated
with those students-will have to improve or, if they
fail to make AYP for 5 years, run the risk of reconstitution
under a restructuring plan.
Greater Flexibility for
States, School Districts, and Schools
The NCLB Act moves beyond waivers to give States and
school districts unprecedented flexibility in the use
of Federal education funds in exchange for strong accountability
for results.
New flexibility provisions in the NCLB
Act include authority for States and LEAs to transfer
up to 50 percent of the funding they receive under 4
major State grant programs to any one of the programs,
or to Title I. The covered programs include Teacher
Quality State Grants, Educational Technology, Innovative
Programs, and Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
The new law also includes a competitive
State Flexibility Demonstration Program that permits
up to 7 States to consolidate the State share of nearly
all Federal State grant programs-including Title I,
Part A Grants to Local Educational Agencies-while providing
additional flexibility in their use of Title V Innovation
funds. Participating States must enter into 5-year performance
agreements with the Secretary covering the use of the
consolidated funds, which may be used for any educational
purpose authorized under the ESEA. As part of their
plans, States also must enter into up to 10 local performance
agreements with Leas, which will enjoy the same level
of flexibility granted under the separate Local Flexibility
Demonstration Program.
The new competitive Local Flexibility
Demonstration Program would allow up to 80 LEAs, in
addition to the 70 LEAs under the State Flexibility
Demonstration Program, to consolidate funds received
under Teacher Quality State Grants, Educational Technology
State Grants, Innovative Programs, and Safe and Drug-Free
Schools programs. Participating Leas would enter into
performance agreements with the Secretary of Education,
and would be able to use the consolidated funds for
any ESEA-authorized purpose.
Putting Reading First
No Child Left Behind states an unequivocal commitment
to ensuring that every child can read by the end of
third grade. To accomplish this goal, the new Reading
First initiative would significantly increase the Federal
investment in scientifically based reading instruction
programs in the early grades.
The NCLB Act fully implements the Reading
First initiative. The new Reading First State Grant
program will make 6-year grants to States, which will
make competitive sub grants to local communities. Local
recipients will administer screening and diagnostic
assessments to determine which students in grades K-3
are at risk of reading failure, and provide professional
development for K-3 teachers in the essential components
of reading instruction.
The new Early Reading First program will
make competitive 6-year awards to LEAs to support early
language, literacy, and pre-reading development of preschool-age
children, particularly those from low-income families.
Recipients will use instructional strategies and professional
development drawn from scientifically based reading
research to help young children to attain the fundamental
knowledge and skills they will need for optimal reading
development in kindergarten and beyond.
Other Major Program Changes
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 also
put the principles of accountability, choice, and flexibility
to work in its reauthorization of other major ESEA programs.
For example, the new law combines the Eisenhower Professional
Development and Class Size Reduction programs into a
new Improving Teacher Quality State Grants program that
focuses on using practices grounded in scientifically
based research to prepare, train, and recruit high-quality
teachers. The new program gives States and LEAs flexibility
to select the strategies that best meet their particular
needs for improved teaching that will help them raise
student achievement in the core academic subjects. In
return for this flexibility, LEAs are required to demonstrate
annual progress in ensuring that all teachers teaching
in core academic subjects within the State are highly
qualified.
The NCLB Act also changed Federal support
for English language instruction by combining categorical
bilingual and immigrant education grants into a State
formula program. The new formula program will facilitate
the comprehensive planning by States and school districts
needed to ensure implementation of programs that benefit
all limited English proficient students by helping them
learn English and meet the same high academic standards
as other students.
Other changes will support State and local
efforts to keep our schools safe and drug-free, while
at the same time ensuring that students can leave schools
designated as persistently dangerous. As proposed in
No Child Left Behind, States must allow students who
attend a persistently dangerous school, or who are victims
of violent crime at school, to transfer to a safe school.
States also must report school safety statistics to
the public on a school-by-school basis, and LEAs must
use Federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities
funding to implement drug and violence prevention programs
of demonstrated effectiveness.
It’s a very tall order. Indeed, it
is a long list of very tall orders. And, as is the case
in all major policy reform, the agonies come in sorting
out the details. As Federal and State rules are being
written, the following resources can help school leaders
stay on top of this rapidly emerging development in
American education.
U.S. Government Information
on NCLB
The Official NCLB Home Page
http://www.nclb.org
Leaders and Leadership
Council of Chief State School Officers
http://www.ccsso.org/federal_programs/NCLB/index.cfm
This webpage provides information on NCLB implementation
for state education agencies and other interested parties
National School Boards’ Association
http://nsba.org/site/page.asp?TRACKID=&CID=89&DID=221
The No Child Left Behind Act will have a significant
impact on local school districts. This site currently
contains a link to the law, the regulations issued as
well as additional materials by NSBA and the Department
of Education
NCLB: Resources from the Education Commission of the
States
http://nclb.ecs.org/nclb/
This site provides a one-stop resource for keeping track
of how states are meeting NCLB requirements. It provides
an interactive map of the US that tracks changes in
state law and policy. Other sections of the site showcase
resources for implementing these state policies at the
local level.
NCLB: Issue Brief from Education Commission of the States
http://www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/issue.asp?issueid=195
This issue brief explores the requirements of NCLB and,
through a series of "sub issue" briefing papers,
explains how districts and schools will change practices
to meet these requirements. This is a very comprehensive
and helpful explanation for practitioners.
Instructional Leadership Resources for NCLB
National Science Teachers’ Association NCLB Resources
http://www.nsta.org/nclb
The National Science Teachers’ Association strongly
encourages teachers to work with their districts to
implement the new law, and take full advantage of the
unique opportunities NCLB can provide. This site provides
resources and information on NCLB and science teaching.
No Child Left Behind: What it Means to
Teachers
http://www.nctm.org/news/articles/2002-11nb_nochild.htm
Mathematics teachers have a special interest in the
"highly qualified teacher" requirement of
NCLB. Their national association articulates the implications
of this Act for all teachers and mathematics teachers
in particular.
Council on Exceptional Children
http://www.cec.sped.org
The CEC provides information and resources on how NCLB
affects special educators and their students. It also
contains authoritative information on the newest IDEA
legislation.
Analysis and Criticism
of NCLB
Testing our Schools, a Special Report from PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/schools/nochild/
PBS provides a comprehensive look at the ambitious promise,
surprising politics, and potential pitfalls of President
Bush’s landmark education bill, the No Child Left
Behind Act.
No Child Left Behind: What Will it Take?
http://www.edexcellence.net/NCLBconference/NCLBconferenceindex.html
Prepared one month after President Bush signed the No
Child Left
Behind Act into law, a provocative set of expert papers
commissioned by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
explores the legislation's key features: its testing
and accountability provisions.
Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act: What’s Wrong…
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/bushplan
Rethinking Schools concludes that President Bush's plan
is based on a number of bad ideas. Conspicuous among
them are his embrace of school vouchers and his insistence
that schools should be forced to give even more standardized
tests.
MCREL Policy Brief – No Child Left Behind: Achieving
the Vision
http://www.mcrel.org/topics/productDetail.asp?productID=133
From the Mid Continent Educational Research Lab, this
brief considers how thoughtful implementation of four
key aspects of the Act -- accountability and testing,
flexible use of resources, school choice, and quality
teachers and quality teaching -- can move schools closer,
not simply to compliance, but to raising achievement
for all students.
Legal Issues and Resources
School Law Section of National School Boards’ Association
http://www.nsba.org/site/page.asp?TRACKID=&CID=1044&DID=11629
NCLB is a massive law that has revamped the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act and imposed staggering obligations
on public schools. Chief among these are new testing
requirements and accountability standards. This site
provides information and resources on the legal issues
associated with the Act.
NCLB: What Teachers, Principals and School Administrators
Need to Know
http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/nclb.teachers.admins.htm
From Wrightslaw, a student-advocate legal assistance
and training center based in Virginia, this article
by Susan Heath provides a succinct assessment of NCLB’s
potential effects on school leaders.http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/nclb.teachers.admins.htm
State Websites for Partnership States
Check on the NCLB activity in your state by following
these links to your state department of education.
Arizona School Administrators
Arkansas
Association of Educational Administrators
Association
of California School Administrators
Colorado
Association of School Executives
Idaho Association
of School Administrators
Illinois
Principals Association
Illinois
Association of School Administrators
School
Administrators of Iowa
Kansas
Association of Secondary School
Principals
Louisiana
Association of Principals
Minnesota
Association of Secondary School
Principals
Montana
Association of Secondary School Principals
Missouri Association
of Secondary School Principals
Missouri
Association of School Admnistrators
Nebraska
Council of School Administrators
New
Mexico Coalition of School Administrators
Cooperative
Council for Oklahoma School Administration
Confederation
of Oregon School Administrators
Texas Association
of Secondary School Principals
Utah
Association
of Secondary
School Principals
Association of Washington
School Principals
Association of Wisconsin
School Administrators
Wyoming Association
of Secondary School Principals
Prepared by Howard Johnston
Secondary Education Department
University of South Florida
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