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CTA's Principles for Reauthorization

We need to Reach for the STARS

ESEA needs to be less about politics and more about policies to fulfill the promises of a high quality public education

NEA's Guidelines for Changing NCLB

Help schools improve education, close achievement gaps

Fulfilling the Great Public Schools criteria require not only the continued commitment of all educators, but the concerted efforts ofpolicymakers at all levels of government.

Issues & Action

ESEA - No Child Left Behind

After having the opportunity for input and discussion at state advisory meetings, CTA is supporting the California Department of Education’s request for a state-defined waiver from many of the burdensome provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The California ESEA Waiver proposal builds off the state’s current accountability system and uses the Academic Performance Index, rather than the often conflicting federal Adequate Yearly Progress. This change makes much more sense for California schools and students. The California waiver proposal, which has been approved by the State Board of Education and sent to the U.S. Department of Education, would: recognize the progress California students have made over the last 10 years, eliminate the unrealistic goals of all students being proficient by 2014, eliminate the practice of labeling schools, give California more flexibility in prioritizing schools that need assistance and in allocating resources to help, and recognize the importance of implementing the new Common Core State Standards within our accountability system. In submitting its own state-defined waiver, the CDE rejected submitting a federal ESEA waiver, which included many other top-down federal mandates. It’s time we leave behind NCLB for good.

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NCLB Stories from the Front Lines

CTA members share how No Child Left Behind is hurting students

Read the stories

“When are you going to teach us instead of just making us take tests?” That was a question a student in Bakersfield asked a teacher recently, and it powerfully captures the frustration so many CTA members feel about the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
That was a question a student in Bakersfield asked a teacher recently, and it powerfully captures the frustration so many CTA members feel about the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

Many people are aware of the impact NCLB is having on our schools, but the people who can best describe what the law is doing to their classrooms are CTA members themselves. That’s why we invited our members to share their NCLB stories from the front lines. The incidents they describe are poignant, distressing and sad. Underneath it all, they illustrate the need to improve the No Child Left Behind Act as it is written.

Our students don’t need more testing, more sanctions and more hoops to jump through. They deserve reforms that work, like class size reduction, quality training for teachers and para-professionals, and resources to encourage parental and family involvement.