Legislative Background
Recent Action on No Child Left Behind
President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) into law on January 8, 2002. The Act reauthorized and amended Federal education programs established under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, creating new requirements aimed at improving the performance of primary and secondary schools by strengthening accountability standards. It also gave parents more flexibility in choosing which schools their children could attend. The goal was for all schoolchildren to be proficient in reading, writing, and mathematics by 2014. Although NCLB passed Congress with strong bipartisan backing, it has since become controversial, receiving mixed reviews from…
