Changes Proposed to No Child Left Behind

On Saturday, President Obama announced he would send a proposal to Congress to reauthorize the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA), more widely known as No Child Left Behind.

The administration’s “Blueprint for Reform” keeps some features of the existing law, most notably the requirement for annual reading and math tests. However, it also proposes significant changes.

The existing law requires every child to achieve grade level proficiency in reading and math by 2014, a goal considered unrealistic. The new proposal calls for all students to be prepared for college and career upon high school graduation. That standard would take effect by 2020.

One criticism of the existing No Child Left Behind law is that since states set their own standards, the act created incentives for states to lower academic standards in order to meet federal progress benchmarks.

The new plan calls for states to develop and adopt standards in language arts and math in common with other states, such as through the common standards process proposed last week by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Alternatively, states may work with their university system to develop their own college-ready standards. In addition to measuring performance in math and reading, schools could include student performance in other subjects to prove students are making progress.

The Obama plan calls for federal intervention in failing schools, including possibly closing the school. It also calls for rewarding, and reducing federal interference in, top-achieving schools and those schools that have made progress in student achievement. More federal funding would move to competitive grants, similar to the Race to the Top program.

Anne L. Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association, called the plan a “vast improvement,” but cited misgivings about linking a state’s federal funding to the adoption of common standards.

The U.S. Department of Education has posted the full text of the blueprint online.

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