No Child Left Behind, recently replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act had been a topic of debate for years since its passage in 2001. It is important to understand the No Child Left Behind Act to understand our education system today.
The No Child Left Behind Act is actually an iteration of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This law was a part of Johnson's War on Poverty program. The law's original goal was to provide federal funds to low-income schools. No Child Left Behind maintained the central goal of improving educational opportunities for low- income students, but placed standards and accountability to regulate which districts receive funding.
With this bipartisan legislation, the role of the federal government in education dramatically increased and placed an emphasis on increasing funding for low-income school districts, higher achievement for poor and minority students, and on measures increasing accountability in school districts. It also dramatically increased the role of standardized testing in education, requiring it in grades 3-8 in both reading and math. No Child Left Behind also required all districts, schools, and states to ensure that all students were proficient in these two categories by 2014. Each state also had to make Adequate Yearly Progress requirements each year but the standards could be set differently for each state. States have been allowed flexibility from these guidelines by applying for waivers starting in 2011. Some states objected to new programs under the waiver system, such as Common Core standards. The need for reform was recognized by many legislators and this past December, the Every Student Succeeds Act was passed, replacing No Child Left Behind. Although No Child Left Behind is no longer in place, it drastically changed our education system in testing standards and accountability measures.
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/schools/nochild/nclb.html
http://atlas.newamerica.org/no-child-left-behind-overview
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