The following summary is based on information found on
the websites listed below.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed into law in January of
2002 and was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act (ESEA). NCLB stresses accountability and was designed to close the
gap between disadvantaged, disabled and minority students, and their peers.
The four principles on which NCLB is based:
- Stronger accountability for results
- Increased flexibility and local control
- Expanded options for parents
- Focusing on what works
It is divided into 10 sections (Titles):
- Title I: Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged
- Title II: Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High Quality Teachers
- Title III: Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and
- Title IV: 21st Century Schools
- Title V: Promoting Informed Parental Choice and Innovative Programs
- Title VI: Flexibility and Accountability
- Title VII: Indian, Native Hawaiian and Alask Native Education
- Title VIII: Imapct Aid Program
- Title IX: General Provisions
- Title X: Repeals, Redesignations and Amendments to Other Statutes
Schools must conform to NCLB beginning 2005-2006. Science assessments
will be required in 2007-2008. By 2013-2014, all students -- including
students with disabilities -- are expected to be proficient in reading
and math according to their state's plan.
How does NCLB affect students with disabilities?
Here are some of the major areas in which students with disabilities
are affected under Titles I and II of NCLB.
(Please note: NCLB is a complex law, made even more complex when it
intersects with IDEA. This is a general summary only and does not discuss
all areas of NCLB that may affect students with disabilities. Consult
additional resources for more detailed information.)
||Issues for CSHCN
||NCLB requires all states to adopt standards in math,
reading/ language arts, and -- beginning in 2007-2008 -- science,
and make them available to the public.
||These standards are to apply equally to children with
disabilities. Alternate academic achievement standards may be set
for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
||NCLB establishes new requirements for testing. All
schools will measure student achievement yearly in reading in math
in grades 3-9, and at least once during high school. Students will
assessed in science starting 2007-2008.
||Students with disabilities must participate in annual
assessments. They may take
- regular grade-level assessments
- regular assessments with accommodations
- alternate assessments based on grade-level achievement standards,
- alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards
|Adequate yearly progress (AYP)
||NCLB requires annual achievements objectives. AYP provisions
require that these objectives establish annual targets for all students.
In calculating a school's AYP, 4 subgroups data must be disaggregated:
- economically disadvantaged
- Limited English Proficiency (LEP)
- students with disabilities
- students from major racial/ethnic groups
|If AYP is not attained for any of these groups, the
school does not make AYP.
Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities can test
with alternate achievement standards, but the percentage of students
with the most significant cognitive disabilities must not exceed 1%
of all students in grades assessed. (On April 7, Secretary of Education
Margaret Spellings announced a new policy, allowing states an additional
2% increase, by creating a new category of student, those with "persistent
academic difficulties." Guidelines are available on the US Dept
of Education webpage.)
||Schools that do not achieve AYP over time may be subject
to "improvement". One improvement measure is school choice.
Parents may transfer their children to a better performing school
within the school district.
||Any public school option must provide FAPE.
Change in location of delivery of services does not equate to change
of placement under IDEA
School choice options do not have to be the same choices as for nondisabled
||Students from low-income families in schools that do
not achieve AYP for at least 3 years are eligible to receive supplemental
services, such as tutoring, after-school services and summer school.
||Supplemental services for children with disabilities
must be consistent with their IEP, are NOT part of the IEP, and require
|Highly qualified teachers
||NCLB sets criteria for teachers in order for them to
be considered "highly qualified." This requirement applies
only to teachers providing direct instruction in core academic subjects:
English, reading/ language arts, civics and government, math, science,
foreign languages, economics, arts, history and geography.
||Special education is not specifically identified in
NCLB. However, if a special education teacher is providing instruction
in one or more academic subjects, he or she must meet "highly
qualified" criteria. If a teacher is providing consultation only,
then that teacher does not need to meet the criteria.
||NCLB sets standards for those paraprofessionals who
have instructional duties (including tutoring, lab or library assistance,
translation) and work in schools that receive Title I funds.
||If a paraprofessional does NOT provide instructional
support, but only personal care services, they do not need to meet
NCLB standards. If they perform both types of duties, they must meet
California Department of Education NCLB page
This site provides information about California's compliance with federal
Center for Law and Education: School Choice Under the No
Child Left Behind Act: Issues and Implications for Students with Disabilities
This paper focuses on School Choice (the option to transfer to another
public school when a school is identified for "improvement") and how it
may affect children with disabilities.
Council for Exceptional Children: No Child Left Behind Act
of 2001: Implications for Special Education Policy and Practices
Side by side analysis of the statute and its implications for special
IDEA and NCLB: The Intersection of Access and Outcomes
A publication from the National Association of State Directors of Special
Making the "No Child Left Behind Act" Work for Children Who
Struggle to Learn: A Parent's Guide
A publication from National Center for Learning Disabilities and Schwab
Foundation for Learning
National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS):
Children with Disabilities Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB):Myths
Discusses issues relating to testing of students with disabilities under
National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) Action Alert on NCLB
This Action Alert contains comprehensive information about NCLB and how
it affects students with disabilities, particularly students who have
Down Syndrome. It includes a glossary and links to more information.
NICHCY's NCLB Resources
An extensive list of links -- everything you ever wanted to know about
No Child Left Behind.
Special Edge article: NCLB and Implications for Special Education
Special Edge is a newsletter produced by the CalSTAT Project,
with funding from the California Department of Education, Special Education
Technical Assistance Alliance for Parent Centers -- NCLB page
Links to sources of information about NCLB.
WestEd's R&D Report on NCLB and IDEA
The report includes a discussion of "highly qualified teachers"