In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, and in 2002 was signed into law, as an update of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This added more to the federal role in holding schools accountable for their student outcome. This law came about when concerns began to grow about the American education system lacking international competitiveness. This new law would put an emphasis on ensuring that states and schools boosted the performance of certain groups of students. Some of these groups were ELL (English-language learners), poor and minority students, and special education. Of course, there was a catch. If the state chose not to comply they would risk losing their Title 1 money (federal funding). This law has been proven problematic for many reasons, particularly because there have been no updates since 2001 (Klien). This act also relies too much on standardized testing. This act did away with holding students back, which caused failing students to be passed along from grade to grade and they kept getting farther and farther behind. This is why dad, who has been teaching for 30+ years, has 6th graders who can’t write, spell, and can’t tell you the difference between addition and multiplication. I live in a low income county in Virginia. Students here are unable to afford tutors and their parents work schedule and lack of transportation does not allow students to stay after school and get the extra help they need. Therefor, our test scores are lower and we’re losing the Title 1 funding we desperately need! In 2015 the Every Students Succeeds Act was passed into law. Click the link below for more information:

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/federal_programs/esea/essa/index.shtml