No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

If you need help with NCLB issues, please contact your Texas Parent Training Center (PTI) or your PATH, PEN, or TEAM Regional Coordinator. Don't know which PTI or Regional Coordinator serves your ESC Region? Check our Texas PTI Map to find both.

Frequently Asked Questions about NCLB

1. What is NCLB?

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is the latest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s major federal law related to education in grades pre-kindergarten through high school. Congress first passed the ESEA in 1965 as part of the nation’s war on poverty .The centerpiece of the ESEA, Title I, was designed to improve achievement among the nation’s poor and disadvantaged students.

When NCLB was signed into law in 2002, it ushered in some of the most sweeping changes the American educational system has seen in decades. New requirements introduced in NCLB were intended to increase the quality and effectiveness not only of the Title I program, but of the entire elementary and secondary education system — raising the achievement of all students, particularly those with the lowest achievement levels.

NCLB is built on four basic principles:

    • Accountability for results

    • An emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research

    • Expanded parental involvement and options

    • Expanded local control and flexibility

Building on the standards-based reform efforts put into place under the previous version of ESEA, NCLB seeks to:

    • Raise the academic achievement of all students

    • Close the achievement gap between groups of students that historically perform poorly and their higher performing peers

Title I programs serve 16.5 million school children. Currently all states accept Title I funds. Almost all school districts and 55 percent of all public schools accept funds through a Title I grant. Federal funding for Title I programs was almost $13 billion in 2006.

"The purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments."
—No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

For more information about No Child left Behind (NCLB), try these resources:

Facts and Terms Every Parent Should Know About NCLB

  1. Title I — This is the part of No Child Left Behind that supports programs in schools and school districts to improve the learning of children from low-income families. The U.S. Department of Education provides Title I funds to states to give to school districts based on the number of children from low-income families in each district.

  2. State Assessments — This refers to the tests developed by your state that your child will take every year in grades 3-8 and at least once in high school. Using these tests, the state will be able to compare schools to each other and know which ones need extra help to improve. In Texas, these tests are: TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills), SDAA II (State Developed Alternative Assessment), Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS), Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), and the Local Determine Alternate Assessment (LDAA).

  3. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) — This is the term No Child Left Behind uses to explain that your child's school has met state reading and math goals. Your school district's report card will let you know whether or not your child's school has made AYP.

  4. School in Need of Improvement — This is the term No Child Left Behind uses to refer to schools receiving Title I funds that have not met state reading and math goals (AYP) for at least two years. If your child's school is labeled a "school in need of improvement," it receives extra help to improve and your child has the option to transfer to another public school, including a public charter school. Also, your child may be eligible to receive free tutoring and extra help with schoolwork. Contact your child's school district to find out if your child qualifies.

  5. Supplemental Educational Services (SES) — This is the term No Child Left Behind uses to refer to the tutoring and extra help with schoolwork in subjects such as reading and math that children from low-income families may be eligible to receive. This help is provided free of charge and generally takes place outside the regular school day, such as after school or during the summer.

  6. Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) — This is the term No Child Left Behind uses for a teacher who proves that he or she knows the subjects he or she is teaching, has a college degree, and is state-certified. No Child Left Behind requires that your child be taught by a Highly Qualified Teacher in core academic subjects.

2. How are school report cards put together and what kind of information do they provide?

Reports on individual schools are part of the annual district report cards, also known as local report cards. Each school district must prepare and disseminate annual local report cards that include information on how students in the district and in each school performed on state assessments. The report cards must state student performance in terms of three levels: basic, proficient and advanced. Achievement data must be disaggregated, or broken out, by student subgroups according to: race, ethnicity, gender, English language proficiency, migrant status, disability status and low-income status. The report cards must also tell which schools have been identified as needing improvement, corrective action or restructuring.

3. How can parents see these local report cards, which include school-by-school data?

States must ensure that the local districts make these local report cards available to the parents of students promptly and by no later than the beginning of the school year. The law requires that the information be presented in an "understandable and uniform format, and to the extent practicable, in a language that the parents can understand." States and districts may also distribute this information to the media for publicizing; post it on the Internet; or provide it to other public agencies for dissemination.

Further, local school districts must notify parents if their child's school has been identified as needing improvement, corrective action or restructuring. In this event, districts must let parents know the options available to them. Also, districts must annually notify parents of students in Title I schools of their "right to know" about teacher qualifications and how to exercise it.

4. Can I get a copy of my school's report card online?

The Texas Education Agency web site allows you to view your school's report card online in both HTML and a PDF(printable) formats. You can also get the report card for your entire school district.

5. What is "adequate yearly progress"? How does measuring it help to improve schools?

No Child Left Behind requires each state to define adequate yearly progress for school districts and schools, within the parameters set by Title I. In defining adequate yearly progress, each state sets the minimum levels of improvement--measurable in terms of student performance--that school districts and schools must achieve within time frames specified in the law. In general, it works like this: Each state begins by setting a "starting point" that is based on the performance of its lowest-achieving demographic group or of the lowest-achieving schools in the state, whichever is higher. The state then sets the bar--or level of student achievement--that a school must attain after two years in order to continue to show adequate yearly progress. Subsequent thresholds must be raised at least once every three years, until, at the end of 12 years, all students in the state are achieving at the proficient level on state assessments in reading/language arts and math.

FAQ's about Texas Academic Assessments

The statewide assessment program includes the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), the State Developed Alternative Assessment (SDAA II), the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS), and the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS).

Read the Law:

Chapter 101, Texas Administrative Code

Chapter 39, Texas Education Code*

1. What is the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS)?

TAKS is the primary state mandated assessment. It is given to students in mathematics at grades 3-10 and at the exit level; in reading at grades 3-9; in writing in grades 4 and 7; in English language arts (ELA) at grade 10 and at the exit level; in science at grades 5 and 10and at the exit level; and in social studies at grades 8 and 10 and at the exit level. Spanish versions of TAKS are available at grades 3-6.

2. What is the State Developed Assessment (SDAA II)?

SDAA II is an assessment that measures the academic progress of students enrolled in Grades 3-10 who receive special education services and for who the TAKS, even with allowable accommodations, is not an appropriate measure of academic progress.

Section 39.023 of the Texas Education Code was amended by the 75th Texas Legislature to address the assessment of students receiving special education services:

  • all special education students for whom TAKS is an appropriate measure of their academic achievement will take TAKS;

  • students in Grades 3–10 who are being instructed in the state-mandated curriculum in an area tested by TAKS, but for whom TAKS is not an appropriate measure of academic progress, even with allowable accommodations, will participate in the State-Developed Alternative Assessment II (SDAA II);

  • and students who are not being instructed in the state curriculum at any grade level in an area tested by TAKS will be exempted from TAKS and from SDAA II.

3. What is the Locally Determined Alternate Assessment (LDAA)?

Locally Determined Alternate Assessment (LDAA) is a locally assigned assessment used to measure the learning of a student receiving special education services whose ARD committee has determined that both the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) and the State-Developed Alternative Assessment (SDAA) are inappropriate.

According to 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §101.5(c):

  • Students receiving special education services, enrolled in Grades 3-10, and who are not receiving any instruction in the essential knowledge and skills, are considered exempt according to state law (Texas Education Code (TEC) §39.027).

  • Each exemption must be documented in the student's individualized education program (IEP) (34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §300.347(a)(5)(i) and (ii)), relating to the content of the IEP and participation in statewide or districtwide assessments.

  • Each exempted student receiving special education services must take an appropriate locally selected assessment, as determined by the student's ARD committee.

  • Student performance results on these alternate assessments must be reported to the TEA.

In addition, Texas schools must keep LDAA performance results in the student’s eligibility folder, so the data for reporting this collection is readily available and accessible to the ARD Committee as it makes decisions on future IEP development.

4. What are the options for assessment for students enrolled in Grades 3-10 who receive special education services?

A student should take TAKS if he or she receives TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) instruction on grade level and needs no accommodations that would invalidate the test.

A student should take SDAA II if he or she receives TEKS instruction on grade level and needs accommodations that would invalidate TAKS, or if he or she receives TEKS instruction below grade level and needs no accommodations that would invalidate SDAA II.

A student should take an LDAA if the student is not receiving TEKS instruction, or if the student is receiving TEKS instruction but needs accommodations that would invalidate SDAA II.

5. How is testing handled for children with disabilities? How is it handled for those with limited English proficiency?

No Child Left Behind requires that all children be assessed. In order to show adequate yearly progress, schools must test at least 95 percent of the various subgroups of children, including their students with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency. States must provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities or limited English proficiency. For the latter, accommodations may include native-language versions of the assessment; however, in the area of reading and language arts, students who have been in U.S. schools for three consecutive years will be assessed in English.

For more information on accommodations in Texas, contact the Texas Education Agency (TEA) or contact the PATH, PEN, or TEAM Parent Training and Information (PTI) Centers. To find out which PTI serves your area, check our PTI Map or call us at 1-800-866-4726.

6. Will the results of a child's tests be private?

Absolutely. Only the parents and school receive the results of an individual child's tests. Individual student scores will not be made public. They are not a part of student achievement data on report cards issued by districts and states.

For more information about State Assessments, try these resources:

FAQ's about Highly Qualified Teachers

1. How does NCLB improve teacher quality?

No Child Left Behind requires local school districts to ensure that all teachers hired to teach core academic subjects in Title I programs after the first day of the 2002-03 school year are highly qualified. In general a "highly qualified teacher" is one with full certification, a bachelor's degree and demonstrated competence in subject knowledge and teaching. (Core subjects include English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history and geography.) The act also calls for all teachers of the core academic subjects (teaching in Title I programs or elsewhere) to be highly qualified by the end of school year 2005-06.

2. How are states and districts held accountable for improving teacher quality?

Each state that receives Title II funds must develop a plan to ensure that all teachers of core academic subjects are highly qualified by the end of the 2005-06 school year. The plan must establish annual, measurable objectives for each local school district and school to ensure that they meet the "highly qualified" requirement.

In schools that receive funds under Title II, principals must make a statement each year as to whether the school is in compliance with the "highly qualified" teacher requirement. This information will be maintained at the school and district offices where members of the public can see it upon request. In addition, each school district must report to the state annually on its progress in meeting the requirement that all teachers be "highly qualified" by the end of the 2005-06 school year. This information is part of the state report cards described earlier.

3. How can parents find out about the quality of their child's teachers?

Parents of students in Title I schools are guaranteed annual notification of their "right to know" about teacher qualifications by their school district. That means parents may request and receive from that office information regarding the professional qualifications of the student's classroom teachers, including: (a) whether the teacher is state-certified; (b) whether a teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status; and (c) the baccalaureate degree major of the teacher and any other graduate degree major or certification.

4.What about paraprofessionals or teachers' aides? Does No Child Left Behind call for increased academic requirements for them?

While paraprofessionals or teachers' aides are valuable assets to many learning communities, they are not qualified to fill the role of teachers--a role which, unfortunately, many have been called upon to fill, especially in schools that are under-staffed. No Child Left Behind is clear that teachers' aides may provide instructional support services only under the direct supervision of a teacher. In addition, the law allows teachers' aides to facilitate instruction only if they have met certain academic requirements: They must have at least an associate's degree or two years of college, or they must meet a rigorous standard of quality through a formal state or local assessment. If a paraprofessional's role does not involve facilitating instruction--such as serving as a hall monitor--that person does not have to meet the same academic requirements. But, in order to provide instructional support services, an aide or paraprofessional must have the academic background required by No Child Left Behind.

For more information about Highly Qualified Teachers, try these resources:

No Child Left Behind and IDEA

Lately, these two laws have taken on new importance to parents of students with disabilities. NCLB provisions apply to all students, including those whose disabilities require special education. So it’s important that parents understand the requirements of NCLB. IDEA, in its latest update by Congress, has been more closely aligned with NCLB, making it equally important that parents become familiar with the ways the two laws have been positioned to work together to improve academic achievement of students with disabilities.

For more information about the IDEA alignment with No Child Left Behind, try these resources:

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