On January 8, 2002 President George Bush signed the "No Child Left Behind" Act (No 2002). This law was made to help the country's educational system. The law revolutionizes the old system. A few of the most popular and biggest changes are: Improving academic achievement of the disadvantaged, higher quality teachers, making all schools up to date on technology, giving schools more flexibility and accountability, and giving a choice to students of their school (No 2002). Because the law is so vast, this paper will explore the flexibility and accountability changes and how they allow the students and parents to choice their schools.
One of the new laws gives states more flexibility with what they spend their allotted federal money on in their schools. For instance, one district might need a technology upgrade while another needs teacher improvement. Before this law, schools had to go through mounds of paper work and red tape to get the different funding. The president believes that each area knows the improvement needed and this will make it easier to get (No 2002).
Not only do the schools get flexibility in their finances but also in their standards. In the fall of 2002, each state had its own standards for their schools. The standards are based on math and reading but will include science by the 2007-08 school year. The standards will also be on achievement of subgroups and teacher qualification (Spar 2003). They will be measured by their progress each year. The idea of these standards is to give schools 12 years to make every student who graduates have a mastery of basic skills (No 2002). .
Even though the schools are given all this flexibility, they will also be held accountable for all their choices. Each year the state will produce a report card on the progress in their schools. The report card will be based on a test that students take at every school. These tests will be given to every student in grades 3-8.