Dbq No Child Left Behind

After talking about the background of policy, and why this particular policy was needed at the time and what problems it was trying to solve, it is now time to talk about the actual policy of No Child Left Behind. The main point of No Child Left Behind was to level the playing field in every public school in the United States who were disadvantaged, including: students in poverty, minorities, students who were receiving special educational services, and those who spoke little no English (retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/your-childs-rights/basics-about-childs-rights/no-child-left-behind-nclb-what-you-need-to-know). Based on this description, we can see that No Child Left Behind, was created to help those who ad
They would try to accomplish this by having annual testing in subjects such as math, and reading to see their progress over the course of the school year, and schools would face severe penalties for schools that did not meet the goal that they had set for themselves (retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/your-childs-rights/basics-about-childs-rights/no-child-left-behind-nclb-what-you-need-to-know). By having a set of standards that the schools had to keep and having a penalty for schools that did not meet their goal, it sets a parameter that should put a focus on the quality of the education of the child, to make sure they are receiving a quality education. Going back to the penalty section of the policy, this was a good thing to have, when writing the policy. By having a penalty you out a consequence for the schools for not providing a good quality education to the students. If a school did not meet its target goal on their progress reports, students could have the option to change schools if they wished, leadership of the schools could change, or the schools could close down entirely (retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/your-childs-rights/basics-about-childs-rights/no-child-left-behind-nclb-what-you-need-to-know). This is important to know because it showed how seriously people were taking about the
The policy was created by a group of people known as official actors. Official actors are according to Birkland (2016), are participants in the policy making process whose involvement is motivated or mandated by his/her official position in government, these people can include the President, people in Congress, the Courts, and etc. This definition seems to say that an official actor is the ones that hold some sort of position in government, and has the power to create policy. This then begs the question, who were the official actors who were behind the No Child Left Behind policy? The official actors behind the policy was President George W. Bush, who was the one who came up with the policy in the first place, and was co-sponsored by House Speaker John Boehner, George Miller and Senators Ted Kennedy, and Judd Gregg. (Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/guide/guide_pg12.html). From this we can see that the policy had bipartisanship wish is rare for the government. Usually, both parties tend to argue about how to create a policy, and would try to have the policy lean more in their favor over the other party. When this policy was being created, it seems like both parties knew of the severity of the country’s failing school system and decided to come together and form a policy that would be beneficial to all. When the bill came to a