NCLB

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is a United States Act of Congress that is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which included( Title I), the government's flagship aid program for disadvantaged students. A federal law passed under the George W. Bush administration. NCLB represents legislation that attempts to accomplish standards-based education reform. NCLB ensures that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments.
No Child Left Behind requires all public schools receiving federal funding to administer a state-wide standardized test annually to all students. This means that all students take the same test under the same conditions. Schools that receive Title I funding through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 must make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in test scores. A school can fail even if it is making substantial progress for most of its students if one category of students cannot meet the standards. The goal is for every student in public school to be proficient in reading and math by 2014.
Students must be tested annually in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and at least once in grades 10 through 12. Students must be tested in science in at least one grade in elementary, middle and high school.
Schools are responsible for making sure that all children are learning. States develop benchmarks for math and reading proficiency, and each student and district aims to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Schools that meet AYP goals are rewarded, and schools that don't meet AYP two years in a row are labeled "in need of improvement."
Yearly state assessments are given to third- to eighth-graders. (Teenagers are also tested at least once in high school.) States then compare each school's scores in order to figure out which ones need