On January 8th, 2002, President Bush signed into law the much anticipated No Child Left Behind bill. The law passed through the House and Senate with unprecedented bipartisan support. No Child Left Behind helps to increase the accountability standards within schools and helps to increase funding for various educational programs that will affect millions of k-12 students around the country. The No Child Left Behind law helped to ensure the legacy of Brown v. Board decision by creating an educational system that is more responsive and accountable. The No Child Left Behind law helps to ensure your child has the best trained teachers and has the proper funding to teach children the skills and knowledge necessary to flourish in society. This is an important step to ratify school law guidelines by giving unprecedented levels of flexibility to states to mange federal funds. Listed below are the main components of the No Child Left Behind law.

Improving standards for economically disadvantaged students:

• Title I program – provides supplemental education support for students who qualify for free or reduced cost lunches.
  Program serves more than 15 million students nationwide.
• Funding for 2005 - $13.3 billion

Training and preparing highly qualified teachers for the workforce:

• The No Child Behind law states that educators in your district must be highly qualified by the end of the 2005-2006 school year.
• Providing educators with the skills and knowledge necessary to become highly qualified teachers will allow your children to receive the best education possible, whether they are in public school or a charter school.
• Funding for 2005 - $5.1 billion

What is a highly qualified teacher?

1. Possesses a bachelor’s degree
2. Certified in the state where they are teaching
3. Proven knowledge base for the subject area in which they teach your child.

English proficiency for immigrant students:

• No Child Left Behind helps to ensure your child who has a differing ethnic or cultural background receives the opportunity to achieve their academic potential.
• Many of our children face challenges in school, especially ones dealing with language and cultural barriers.
• Funding for 2005 - $681 million

No Child Left Behind gives parents additional choices:

• Your child who attends a school who does not meet academic standards for two consecutive years has the right to transfer to a higher performing public school or charter school.
• No Child Left Behind promotes charter schools as an important component of the educational system.
  With the addition of the No Child Left Behind law, charter schools are held to the same standards as public schools.
• Funding for 2005 - $504 million

Accountability in the education system:

• One of the main goals of the No Child Left Behind law is to address the achievement gaps that plague schools throughout the nation.
• To comply with the No Child Left Behind law, each state is required to:
  
  1) Set specific standards for grade level achievement within schools
  
  2) Develop and evaluation measures to ensure your child is meeting those predetermined grade-level standards.
  
• Your child, whether they are Hispanic, African American or a special needs child will be represented in achievement standards, due to the passage of the No Child Left Behind law.
• Funding for 2005 - $410 million

Giving your child all the necessary tools to learn to read:

• One of the main goals of the No Child Left Behind law is to ensure your child has the ability to read at grade level by the age of third grade.
• The No Child Left Behind law acknowledges that children must be able to read early in the educational system because it will ultimately impact other areas of learning.
• Funding for 2005 – $1.4 billion

Children with disabilities:

• One component of the No Child Left Behind law provides unprecedented funding to make sure special needs students can excel in mathematics and reading.
• Funding for 2005 - $11.1 billion

For further information on this topic, please refer to the U.S. Department of Education website at www.ed.gov