What is “No Child Left Behind?
Federal “No Child Left Behind” legislation (NCLB) requires districts to employ teachers who are considered “highly qualified.” Content teachers 4-8, 6-12, 8-12, and EC-12 must have 12- 24 semester hours of university coursework in their content area and have passed the content TExES/ExCET. Generalist EC-4 and 4-8, Bilingual Generalist EC-4 and 4-8 individuals must have passed the appropriate generalist exam, according to current interpretation from SBEC. Special education teachers can be considered highly qualified when they have passed the Generalist EC-4 or a content TExES AND the Generic Special Education exam. ESL teachers, according to SBEC, must pass their ESL exam AND a Generalist EC-4 or 4-8 content exam. (These new requirements mean prospective teachers need to apply early, and if accepted, begin training and pass their examinations well in advance of anticipated employment.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)was passed in 2001, and was designed to address increasing concerns about the quality of American education. Since its passage in 2001, debate about No Child Left Behind has raged back and forth, with supporters arguing that it has improved American education, and detractors pointing out failings with the Act. No Child Left Behind was one of the first major pieces of legislation pushed through by the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. According to the White House and Department of Education, No Child Left Behind has four pillars. The first is the idea of accountability; that a standard must be established for schools to be measured against, and that there will be rewards and consequences for improvement and failures, respectively. The second is greater flexibility with funds, by allowing schools to allocate funds as needed, rather than as dictated by others. The third is “scientifically based research,” a term which pops up a great d
The “No Child Left Behind” act was signed into law in January, 2002. It is an education reform plan which requires schools to determine their success in terms of what each student achieves. States are responsible for having strong academic standards for what every child should know and learn in reading, math, and science for elementary, middle and high school. Schools are required to administer tests and report results in annual state and district report cards, so parents can measure their school’s performance. “No Child Left Behind” provides options to parents whose children are enrolled in schools which are chronically identified as in need of improvement, or not making “Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
