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ED's NCLB Site
for Educators and Policymakers
This website at the U.S. Department of Education offers "one-stop-shopping"
for links to legislation, Federal Register Notices, Policy Guidance,
and Grant Applications for the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
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ED's NCLB Site for Parents
and the Public
This "citizen-friendly" site explains the No Child Left
Behind Act to parents and the public in straightforward, mostly jargon-free
language. Educators who are exploring NCLB for the first time may
also appreciate features like Frequently Asked Questions, fact sheets
on various aspects of the law, a free newsletter, key dates, and more.
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How Does NCLB Change the ESEA?
The No Child Left Behind Act represents a major revision of the federal
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was first enacted
in 1965. Educators are familiar with ESEA's various "titles"
- especially Title I (Part A) which provides local educational agencies
(school districts) with extra resources to help improve instruction
in high-poverty schools. The resources below can help school leaders
sort out the "sweeping reforms" in ESEA brought about by
the passage of NCLB, which dramatically redefines the federal role
in K-12 education.
No
Child Left Behind Fact Sheet
NCLB Executive Summary
NCLB Preliminary
Overview of Programs and Changes
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A Different Look at NCLB
The Education Commission of the States works with states to develop
effective education policy. ECS has created a special area on the
Commission's website dedicated to NCLB news and explanations. Since
ECS serves state leaders (rather than the Congress or the President),
the perspectives are sometimes different.
ECS
NCLB website
No State
Left Behind (PDF file)
Subtitled "The Challenges and Opportunities of ESEA 2001,"
ECS's detailed summary of NCLB also looks at states' readiness to
implement provisions of the law and provides key questions for policymakers
to consider.
Policy
Briefs on Aspects of NCLB
Topics include: Literacy, low-performing schools, leadership, school
choice, teaching quality, standards-based education and assessment,
data-driven decisionmaking, and more.
- Education
Week's NCLB Stories and Resources
Learn the basics of No Child Left Behind and keep up with week-to-week
developments as this unprecedented federal law is implemented by bookmarking
this regularly updated page at Education Week, the nation's leading
education news source.
- NCLB's
"Closing the Gap" Requirements
In this article from School Administrator, Craig Jerald and Kati Haycock
of The Education Trust offer their recipe for meeting new federal standards
on student achievement. "The message is clear," they write.
"You no longer will be judged a successful school system unless
you successfully teach all kinds of students."
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Alabama
Dept. of Education NCLB Documents
When the State Department of Education develops documents related
to the implementation of No Child Left Behind, they may be posted
here.
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Alabama's Evolving State Assessment System
Alabama will phase in a variety of assessments during the next two
years that are more closely aligned to state standards and NCLB. Find
out more about Alabama's evolving assessment system, including the
criteria being used to identify "academic priority schools,"
from these two sources:
State Department press release
- August 22, 2002
State
Board of Education Powerpoint presentation
on assessment/accountability - May 23, 2002
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Leave
No Teacher Behind
The National Staff Development Council is urging members and supporters
of strong professional learning programs to become "watchdogs"
for the implementation of the No Child Left Behind law to ensure "that
NCLB funds are used appropriately for professional development."
Find out more in this article from NSDC's Results (September 2002)
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Smart Induction
Can Narrow the Gap
High-poverty schools are most vulnerable to the NCLB "annual
yearly progress" requirements. High-poverty schools are also
most likely to be staffed by a high percentage of new and inexperienced
teachers. It follows, then, that effective support programs for novice
teachers are a critical element in closing the achievement gap in
many diverse schools and districts. Three articles in the Fall 2002
issue of the Journal of Staff Development describe the elements of
"smart" induction programs and offer real-life examples
of successful models.
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NCLB
in the Middle Grades
This paper prepared for the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation zeroes
in on the impact of No Child Left Behind on middle grades education
and reform. Author Cindy Brown is a long-time Washington policy analyst
and former program director at the Council of Chief State School Officers.
(PDF file)
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Find Schools That
Are Closing the Gap
The Dispelling the Myth Online database allows users to search for
schools that have high enrollments of low-income or minority students
and impressive results on state assessments. This Education Trust
site employs a first-of-its-kind database with demographic information
and test data for more than 90,000 public schools nationwide.
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Finding
the Right Solutions
Schools are better at analyzing achievement gaps than coming up with
effective strategies to address them, says Ronald S. Thomas, associate
director of the Center of Leadership in Education at Maryland's Towson
University. "They rush toward possible solutions without fully
considering the root causes, hoping that a trial-and-error approach
will hit the target by chance." Thomas suggests ways to avoid
this mistake in this article from School Administrator.
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NCLB:
What Will It Take?
A provocative set of expert papers commissioned by the Thomas B. Fordham
Foundation explores the NCLB legislation's key features: its testing
and accountability provisions.
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The
Federal Government's Stronger Role
In this overview written for the American School Board Journal (September
2002), former Congressional staffer Jack Jennings analyzes the impact
of No Child Left Behind and the implications of the federal government's
more aggressive approach to public school reform. Jennings is president
of the Center on Education Policy. (PDF file)
Also see these NCLB resources at the National
School Boards Association website
- What
is "Scientific" Ed Research?
The No Child Left Behind Act calls for programs and practices that are
built on scientifically based research. This requirement for rigorous
evidence that programs and practices will work has led to an impassioned
debate among educators, policymakers, and researchers. The Mid-Continent
Research for Education and Learning (McREL) education lab examines the
issues in its Changing Schools newsletter (Summer 2002).
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More Background on "Scientific"
Ed Research
The No Child Left Behind Act requires school intervention programs
or strategies to be based on "scientific research." In February
2002 the U.S. Department of Education hosted a seminar where leading
experts in the fields of education and science discussed the meaning
of scientifically based research and its status across various disciplines,
including reading, math, safe and drug-free schools, and comprehensive
school reform. This link leads to seminar papers.
Also see this Education
Week story examining the debate over this requirement
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Research on School Improvement
Models
The No Child Left Behind legislation has revved up interest in "research-based"
school models. The Study of Instructional Improvement is an on-going
six-year effort by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education
to track the implementation of three leading school improvement programs
-- Accelerated Schools, America's Choice, and Success For All. This
special CPRE website shares SSI project papers and research instruments.
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No
Educator Left Behind
Education World, one of the Web's best education websites, is
soliciting questions about the No Child Left Behind law and submitting
them to the U.S. Department of Education. Read the archives and find
out how to submit a question.
