What is ESEA?

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act is a federal law that was first signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson as part of his War on Poverty. This first incarnation of the law focused primarily on providing additional federal resources for schools to help level the playing field for poor and minority children. Since 1965 the law has been changed and reauthorized several times. It is now again up for reauthorization, possibly as early as this year.

What is NCLB? Is it different from ESEA?

No Child Left Behind is the name President Bush and Congress gave to the most recent reauthorization of ESEA, passed by Congress in 2001 and signed into law in 2002. NCLB was a major overhaul of ESEA that placed strict additional testing and accountability requirements upon schools, set timelines for compliance and began imposing sanctions on so-called “failing” schools.

Has NCLB helped improve student learning and achievement?

No. NCLB’s one-size-fits-all approach to education has actually harmed student learning. As schools have attempted to comply with NCLB’s testing requirements, time spent on other subjects has been reduced or eliminated altogether. The current law has wasted hours of additional class time and resources on intensive test preparation, paperwork and bureaucracy. The U.S. Department of Education has estimated that school districts will have spent 6,457,586 burden hours and $135.9 million just to comply with the paperwork requirements of NCLB.

Has NCLB provided the necessary resources to help students and schools?

NCLB has become an underfunded mandate that has strained already stretched school district budgets. President Bush and Congress have broken their promise to fund the law, and the shortfall in promised funding since 2001 now exceeds $65.4 billion.

Has NCLB helped close the achievement gap for minority students?

No. The widely respected Harvard Civil Rights Project reported that NCLB has had little or no impact on achievement rates for minority and poor students, and it will continue to leave many of them behind.

What are CTA’s priorities for the upcoming reauthorization of ESEA?

CTA wants Congress to erase the punitive elements of NCLB, and rewrite and reauthorize the law to provide support for schools and improve student learning. The rewritten law should use more than test scores to measure school and student success. It should use growth models that recognize student progress instead of slapping a one-size-fits-all requirement on every school in the nation. ESEA should provide support and resources, not sanctions. Additionally, it should help schools reduce class sizes and provide other proven reforms that help students learn.

What can individual CTA members do to help?

CTA members can share their personal stories of how NCLB has affected teaching and learning in their school. And check back regulary for updates on the reauthorization process and what CTA is doing to ensure educator's voices are heard.