Obama Signs New Sweeping Education Bill to Rewrite No Child Left Behind

The new law replaces the No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2001.

“With this bill, we reaffirm that fundamentally American ideal that every child- regardless of race, gender, background, zip code – deserves the chance to make out of their lives what they want”, President Obama said.

It is also recognized as a remedy to the “one-size-fits-all” educational approach of the past administration, which according to Obama, despite having the right goals, often “fell short in practice”. High school students also have to take the tests at least once.

But, as evidenced by the opt-out movement that has grown here in Lancaster County and across the nation, the law placed too much emphasis on standardized tests.

There really was a broad recognition across the ideological spectrum that No Child Left Behind was unfortunately leaving most of our students behind. In elementary and middle schools, those could include student engagement, educator engagement, advanced coursework access and completion, or other factors that would be determined by individual states.

“WHEN are our elected officials going to stop the toxic assessment culture mostly benefiting test companies?” asked Florida Parents Against Common Core.

States will now be responsible for designing their own measures of achievement – Alabama has implemented Plan 2020 that is created to increase the graduation rate – and there’s some risk that states won’t shoot high enough, but state intervention will be required for the lowest-performing schools and in schools with achievement gaps.

“We are still in the process of reviewing the Every Student Succeeds Act”, said Lachenmayr.

“For the first time ever, our federal education law will recognize the importance of early learning with the grant program that we have put in place”.

Under the new law, the federal government will shift more decision-making to states. Some states have set high standards for their students.

However, despite the celebration in Congress of passing solid legislation as well as the excitement shown by those at the state level, some warn that it will still take significant action to right the wrongs of No Child Left Behind. The new law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, was a clear recognition that politics, at the end of the day, is the art of the possible.

Heather Mueller says, “It really does give some local control to not only our school district but the state”.

He also said the new provision eliminated “unnecessary standardized testing” for students nationwide.