Learn about the No Child Left Behind Act. Identify the definition of no child left behind and learn when the act was passed along with what replaced it.
Updated: 11/21/2023
No Child Left Behind Act | Definition, History & Controversy
Table of Contents
- What is the No Child Left Behind Act?
- History of No Child Left Behind
- Controversy of NCLB
- What Replaced No Child Left Behind?
- Lesson Summary
Frequently Asked Questions
What is No Child Left Behind now called?
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was replaced in 2015 with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which gives more authority to the states than under NCLB. While states are still required to perform annual assessments, other metrics can be used to measure achievement such as access to advanced coursework.
What did the No Child Left Behind Act do?
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 implemented federal education standards to hold teachers and schools accountable in giving all children an equal opportunity to education. States were required to meet certain achievement benchmarks, which were primarily assessed through standardized testing. Schools that did not meet these benchmarks were considered failing.
Table of Contents
- What is the No Child Left Behind Act?
- History of No Child Left Behind
- Controversy of NCLB
- What Replaced No Child Left Behind?
- Lesson Summary
When the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act was passed by Congress in 2001, President George W. Bush had been pushing education as one of the primary issues he wished to address in his presidency. He signed NCLB into law in 2002. The definition of NCLB is an educational reform measure that gave the federal government unprecedented authority within elementary and secondary education. The law aimed to create change that would hold schools and teachers accountable for giving all children an equal opportunity for high-quality education.
Provisions of the Act
Under NCLB, the federal government required states to meet certain thresholds of student achievement, primarily measured by annual standardized testing. Assessments, developed at the state level, used various indicators to establish whether schools met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards. The overarching goal called for 100% of students to reach proficiency in math and reading by the 2013-2014 academic year.
Students were divided into the following subgroups:
- students with disabilities
- limited English proficiency students
- students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch
- students from major ethnic/racial groups
If all subgroups reached standardized test participation and proficiency benchmarks, a school would "pass" AYP. Furthermore, the more subgroups a school had, the more chances they had to pass. High school graduation rates and attendance rates at elementary and middle school levels were also used to measure Adequate Yearly Progress. If a school was failing AYP, parents had the option to enroll their children in better-performing schools.
NCLB also required teachers to be "highly qualified," meaning they held a bachelor's degree at a minimum and demonstrated expertise in their subject area. Teachers could prove competency through rigorous state exams and advanced degrees or certifications.
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The No Child Left Behind Act was passed by Congress in 2001 after receiving bipartisan support in the U.S. House and Senate. It was signed into law on January 8, 2002, by President George W. Bush. In the following decade, the act lost much of its support and was ultimately replaced in 2015.
NCLB and Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
The 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was one of the first times that the federal government played a role in educational policy. Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the ESEA offered grants to state educational agencies to enhance the quality of elementary and secondary education. In addition, the ESEA offered funding in support of special education centers, textbooks and library books, districts serving low-income students, and scholarships for low-income college students. This act was a part of President Johnson's "War on Poverty," which sought to expand social welfare and bridge the divide between socioeconomic classes. Despite this new step into educational policy at the federal level, decision-making remained largely at the state and local levels. There have been several reauthorizations of the ESEA; however, the NCLB was the most modifying of these changes.
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The No Child Left Behind Act quickly became a target of criticism. While supporters applauded attempts to close the achievement gap between students, many condemned the act's one-size-fits-all standards as unrealistic. Those opposed argued that NCLB failed to account for the different needs of each student and school particularly by requiring progress standards of all subgroups, including those with disabilities. Critics also denounced NCLB's focus on test-based instruction and emphasis on reading and math, which took time and resources away from other subjects.
By 2010, almost half of all U.S. schools were unable to make AYP and had been marked as failing. Schools unable to implement or achieve AYP faced repercussions such as the dismissal of staff, state takeover of a school, school closure, and loss of federal funding (such as Title I), which makes up roughly 8-10% of an average school district's budget. So instead of providing additional resources to under-performing schools to help boost performance, NCLB actually removed funding from those schools that needed it the most. Critics argued that instead of closing the gap between students of various socioeconomic statuses, it essentially made the gap even bigger.
NCLB was set for revision in 2007, but due to political differences and indecision, Congress was unable to pass the necessary legislation. Thus, the act remained in limbo until its replacement in 2015.
NCLB in Obama Era
Aware of NCLB's shortcomings, the Obama administration sought to provide states with more flexibility. In 2011, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan initiated a waiver process. In exchange for adopting certain federal education policies, such as the Common Core Standards, states were granted relief from "failing" under NCLB. This system drew criticism from those who believed the Department of Education lacked the authority to bypass Congress, but by October 2013, 45 states had requested waivers and 43 of these requests were approved.
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In 2015, the U.S. House and Senate passed legislation to replace the No Child Left Behind Act with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), another reauthorization of the ESEA. This marked a shift in educational power back to the states. For example, the act prevents the U.S. Secretary of Education from mandating states to adopt standards, including the Common Core Standards that were pushed during the Obama administration.
While states are still required to perform annual assessments of students, they are given more authority in the design and implementation of these metrics. Other factors can now be considered to measure achievement, such as access to advanced coursework and educator engagement. The act also removed the "highly qualified" teacher requirement of NCLB.
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No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was an act passed by Congress in 2001 and signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002 aiming to create accountability standards and promote progress in U.S. schools. The main measure of improvement that was used was Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which primarily assessed the achievement of student subgroups (students facing poverty, students with disabilities, English learners, and students of color) through standardized testing. The act was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965.
NCLB faced a lot of criticism for pushing a one-size-fits-all education standard that emphasized test-based learning. The act, which called for 100% proficiency in math and reading by 2013-2014, was deemed unrealistic and many states were considered "failing" AYP. When U.S. Congress was unable to revise NCLB in 2007 due to political differences, and in 2011, the Obama administration began issuing waivers to give individual states more flexibility. No Child Left Behind was ultimately replaced in 2015 with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which maintained certain accountability standards but left authority to the states.
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A Sweeping Change
When George W. Bush ran for president in 2000, education was one of his signature issues. He wanted to create sweeping changes that would hold schools and teachers more accountable, raise standards, and in particular, benefit the poor and minority students who, data showed, consistently lagged behind their peers.
Bush's education agenda became known as No Child Left Behind, and one of his first acts as president was to officially propose it to Congress on January 23, 2001, three days after taking office. The No Child Left Behind Act was passed just months later and would dictate American education policy for the next 14 years.
However, from the very beginning, the program faced criticism from many teachers and education experts who argued it did not work and, even worse, actually harmed disadvantaged students, whom it was specifically designed to help. Though there was some data that the program had a positive impact, it became increasingly unpopular. Several attempts at changes were made before the program was formally discontinued in 2015.
NCLB and ESEA
To understand the history of No Child Left Behind, we have to back up and talk about something called the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). First implemented in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act gives hundreds of millions of dollars to individual states for K-12 education, which the states then distribute to local school districts.
Historically, education has been administered by states and local school districts, not the federal government. The ESEA was one of the first times the federal government took a large role in educational policy. And while it was still left to the states to set their own education policy, the federal government quickly found out it could shape policy by attaching certain requirements to the money distributed under ESEA. If states did not follow the requirements, they did not get the money.
From Johnson forward, presidents started using the annual reauthorizations of the ESEA to set their education agenda. They put provisions into the ESEA that states had to follow in order to receive their federal funding, which states and local school districts have come to rely on as part of their annual budgets.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), signed by President Bush on January 8, 2002, was one such reauthorization of the ESEA, but it introduced perhaps the most sweeping changes since the ESEA was first passed in 1965. In particular, it affected Title I of the ESEA, which allocated funding for school districts that served primarily poor and minority students.
Implementation and Controversy
After Bush signed the NCLB Act into law in January of 2002, states had to start changing their policies in order to continue receiving federal money. Disbursements included the all-important Title I funds, which in many cases were the primary source of funding for schools in poor areas.
Under NCLB, schools serving disadvantaged students had to hire 'highly qualified' teachers and start showing Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in student performance, though it was left to the states how to measure both of those terms. Under the original NCLB, all students in the country were supposed to be judged as 'proficient' in math and science by the 2013-2014 school year.
Early on, school districts and states complained that the AYP requirements were unrealistic and would have a negative impact on schools and students. In 2005, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced a plan to give states limited flexibility in meeting the AYP benchmarks if they could show progress. This was the first of many attempts to give states flexibility and move away from the strict goals of the original bill.
In 2007, a comprehensive update to NCLB that linked teacher pay to AYP failed to pass Congress after intense backlash from teachers' unions. It was the first sign of growing resistance to the bill by teachers and administrators.
NCLB in the Obama Era
When President Barack Obama succeeded Bush in 2009, he wanted to keep many of the key provisions in NCLB, while also responding to criticism by giving states greater flexibility. By the time Obama took office, it was becoming clear that most, if not all, states, would fail to meet the original NCLB goal, whereby all students would demonstrate 'proficiency' by the 2013-2014 school year. Obama would need to make some changes.
In 2011, the Education Department, under Obama's Education Secretary Arne Duncan, began issuing waivers to individual states. The provisions of these waivers varied from state to state, but in general they relieved states of some of the requirements of NCLB in exchange for changes more in line with Obama and Duncan's agenda.
Duncan began to lobby Congress to fully overhaul the law, telling them in 2011 that 82% of all schools could be labeled as failing if they didn't update the law. Though that figure never materialized, many states did have failure rates of over 50%. Congress still failed to update the law, so Duncan issued more waivers.
By 2015, 42 states were operating under NCLB waivers, meaning that while it was still technically the law of the land, NCLB was in effect dead for much of the country. Finally, in December 2015, Congress was able to agree on a new reauthorization of the ESEA, this time titled the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This put into law many of Obama's education priorities, which most states were already attempting to follow under their waivers.
Lesson Summary
When President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) into law, it brought sweeping change to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the 1965 law that distributed federal money to state and local school districts. The NCLB required states taking the money to show Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and have all students judged 'proficient' by the 2013-2014 school year.
Though initially popular, NCLB became increasingly controversial as many claimed it was too restricting to states and set unrealistic goals. As early as 2005, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings was offering states flexibility in the requirements. When President Obama took over, he began issuing waivers to relieve schools from their duty to fulfill many of the NCLB requirements. Forty-two states had received waivers by December 2015, when NCLB was officially ended and replaced with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
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No Child Left Behind Act | Definition, History & Controversy
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