In response, President Bush proposed a comprehensive, bipartisan plan to improve overall student performance and close the achievement gap between rich and poor students in America's more than 89,599 public schools.
In his first year in office, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was passed with an overwhelming majority in both houses of Congress. On January 8, 2002, the President signed into law this landmark legislation that promotes educational excellence for America's:
Estimated 46.8 million public school children
Nearly 3 million public school teachers
More than 89,599 public schools
Nearly 17,000 local school districts
The Leave No Child Behind
Act Ushers in Sweeping Reforms Based Upon the President's Priorities
for America's Schools:
Stronger Accountability for Results
Provides the most sweeping reform of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act since it was enacted in 1965 by turning federal spending on schools into a federal investment in improved student performance
Redefines the federal role in K-12 education by requiring all states to set high standards of achievement and create a system of accountability to measure results
Insists that states set high standards for achievement in reading and math - the building blocks of all learning - and test every child in grades 3 through 8 to ensure that students are making progress
Greater Flexibility and Local Control
Offers school districts powerful tools to provide the best possible education to all children - especially those most in need - by cutting federal red tape, reducing the number of federal education programs, and creating larger more flexible programs that place decision-making at the local level where it belongs
Trusts local parents, educators and school boards to make the best decisions for their children
Frees local school districts to spend up to half their federal education dollars however they see fit
Expanded Options and Choice for Parents
Empowers parents by providing unprecedented federal support for children from disadvantaged backgrounds who are trapped in low-performing schools
Students in failing schools may transfer to higher-performing public schools or get help such as tutoring
Students in persistently dangerous schools may transfer to safer public schools
Informs parents by requiring states to provide annual report cards of school performance and statewide progress
Requirement arms parents with information about the quality of their children's schools, the qualifications of teachers, and their children's progress in key subjects
Emphasis on Teaching Methods that Work
Supports reading instruction based upon research-based methods that work to ensure that every child in public schools reads at or above grade level by third grade
Strengthens teacher quality for public schools in by investing in training and retention of high-quality teachers
The Leave No Child Behind Act Provides Resources to Support the Reforms:
Increases federal education funding under the ESEA to more than $22.1 billion for America's elementary and secondary schools - a 27 percent increase over last year, and a 49 percent increase over 2000 levels
Increases federal funding to an estimated $10.4 billion for the Title I program to help disadvantaged students succeed - an 18 percent increase over last year, and a 30 percent increase over 2000 levels
Provides nearly $3 billion in federal funding to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers and principals
Boosts funding for reading programs to nearly $1 billion so every child in America learns to read
Provides an estimated $200 million for charter schools to expand parental choice and free children trapped in persistently failing schools
Note: Funding figures are U.S. Department of Education estimates
Other figures include data from the Department's National Center for Education Statistics
at www.nces.ed.gov.
For
more U.S. Department of Education information please visit www.ed.gov/nclb
