No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB): An Overview - Página 2

Why is it so important that children with learning disabilities be included in state assessments?

No Child Left Behind is intended to improve the education of all children. As part of the law, all states are required to release easy-to-read, detailed report cards every year that provide parents and the general public with a measure of how schools are doing. These report cards must include information on how students in each district, as well as each school, performed on state assessments. The report cards must state student performance on three levels: basic, proficient, and advanced. The data must also be broken down by various student subgroups, including students with disabilities. Just like all other subgroups, NCLB requires that students with disabilities reach proficient levels of achievement. This is not extra pressure on the children. This is a mandate for schools to provide a better education for students with disabilities, including learning disabilities.

In addition, each state is required to set Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards that schools must meet. In defining AYP, each state must set the minimum levels of improvement, measurable in terms of student performance that school districts and schools must achieve within the time frame specified by the law. Basically, states have to continue to raise the bar on academic achievement, and by 2013-2014 all subgroups in all schools in all states must be achieving proficient levels in reading and math on state assessments. This includes students with learning disabilities. Unlike in the past, NCLB is setting a way (the state assessments) for schools to be held accountable for what their students with learning disabilities are learning and achieving.

How else does NCLB set out to improve public education?

Here is a brief summary of other ways NCLB will ensure a better education for students with LD:

• Increased flexibility and local control

  NCLB gives both states and local school districts greater flexibility in the use of federal funds than they previously had. This flexibility allows for the reallocation of certain funds to programs dedicated to teacher quality improvement, technology, safe and drug-free schools, and many others. This flexibility is dependent on improved results on state assessments and does not include IDEA funds, or the possibility of transferring money out of Title 1* programs.

• Expanded options for parents

  Under NCLB, all parents must receive local and district report cards before the beginning of every school year. If a Title 1 school fails to meet its AYP goal for two consecutive years, parents may choose to place their children in non-failing schools in their district. Under NCLB, school districts must pay the cost of transporting students to the other public school. After three years of failure to meet AYP goals, schools must also offer supplemental services to the children remaining there, including tutoring, after-school programs and summer school paid for by the district.

• Improved teaching qualifications

  NCLB requires that all teachers be highly qualified. That means they hold at least a bachelor's degree and have passed a state test of subject knowledge. Elementary school teachers must demonstrate knowledge of teaching math and reading; while teachers in higher grades must demonstrate knowledge of the subject they teach, or must have majored in the subject. Special education teachers must be knowledgeable about the content area(s) they teach as well as special education, unless they provide consultative services to highly qualified general education teachers.