No child left behind act

Introduction

In 2001, President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left behind Act (NCLB), which is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. NCLB is a federal initiative aimed at improving education in America's public schools. NCLB centers upon standards-based educational reform and accountability through assessment. This major piece of government legislation has prompted reform throughout every level of school education (Barone & Hardman, Pp.69-72).

President Bush announced that the NRP's work would serve as the foundation for the federal literacy policy, and as a result, the NRP's work was used prominently in developing the Reading First program. This program is a $5 billion initiative that is one component of NCLB. Reading First is aimed at reading reform and has been highly controversial. Targeting students in Grades K-3, Reading First distributes grants to states to reform reading instruction. The primary goal of the Reading First program is to ensure that all students are reading successfully by the end of the third grade (Abedi, Pp.33, 4-14).

Controversy has arisen over how the grant money is distributed, in particular over requiring states to adopt reading programs designed to meet the requirements of Reading First. Emphasis is placed on providing scientifically based reading instruction to the neediest students, both economically and in terms of reading achievement. Reading First funds are controlled by state and local school leaders, but their use must meet the strict requirements of the grant. Professional development, assessment, and implementation of scientifically based instruction are areas designated for the funds to be allocated.

Dissent regarding this program has continued to grow, particularly with the release of the U.S. Department of Education Office of the Inspector General's report, which revealed that mismanagement and corruption were present throughout the federal program. This report revealed that states were often required to implement guidelines not established under NCLB and that particular commercial programs gave preference over others. In addition, a study released by the U.S. government in May 2008 further fueled the dissent over this program. The study, which had empirically studied the program, found that after 3 years of implementation, Reading First schools had no statistically significant impact on reading comprehension as compared to schools that did not participate in the program. Critics of the program quickly noted their belief that the program overemphasized explicit phonics instruction and did not do enough to foster comprehension (Barone & ...