The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), enacted in January 2002, includes among its provisions new requirements for all employees providing instructional support (paraprofessionals, teacher aides, tutors, etc.) in programs/schools supported with Title I, Part A funds. The law stipulates that paraprofessionals or teacher aides must meet one of the…

A decades-long school funding revolution continues in the United States. The litigation sparked by the Supreme Court of California's 1971 decision in "Serrano v. Priest" continues to reshape the legal, political, and educational landscape in the United States, affecting the lives of children, parents, educators, and taxpayers throughout…

Describes how superintendents and principals of small, rural school districts can implement the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. (PKP)

In this study we inquired into the qualifications of public secondary school teachers by examining whether or not teachers met the No Child Left Behind Act's ([NCLB] 2002) definition of "highly qualified" immediately prior to the law's enactment. We examined this by core academic subjects (English, social studies, math, and science) and,…

The federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation was designed to strengthen the achievement of K-12 students across the United States. To help schools improve, their progress must be ascertained and then initiatives implemented that will support improvement efforts. This study, which was conducted in 2005-2006, provides a comprehensive,…

Two schools in Idaho received ARRA SIG (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act School Improvement Grants) funds to enable them to implement improvement efforts. This paper describes the outcomes of these two ARRA SIG recipient schools: (1) Jefferson Middle School; and (2) Lakeside Elementary School. The experiences of this non-recipient school is…

With the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the United States entered the "age of high-stakes educational accountability". According to the United States Department of Education, NCLB is designed to change the culture of America's schools by closing the achievement gap, offering more flexibility, giving parents more…

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has been proclaimed by some as a reform that will improve education for students from all backgrounds, in all locations. The main components of NCLB, however, are biased against students in small and rural schools. This bias, called "placism," discriminates against people based on where they live. This rural…

The implementation of the No Child Left Behind accountability process has allowed schools to fail to report academic progress for significant groups of students. This study examined the impact of No Child Left Behind on accountability for special education students in small rural schools within a state. The study used both qualitative and…

The reauthorization of the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" ("ESEA") as amended by the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" ("NCLB") relied on two notable policy instruments to improve education: accountability and flexibility. "NCLB" complements accountability with several new flexibility…

This report presents findings from case studies conducted during the 2003-04 school year, the second year that the supplemental services provisions of the "No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB) had been in effect. It follows up on baseline data collected the previous school year. This study conducted interviews in a purposive sample of six…

This report identifies and analyzes legal, regulatory, and policy barriers to redesigning high schools in California. In an effort to identify legal, regulatory, and policy barriers to the creation and successful operation of redesigned high schools in California, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) staff interviewed high school…

Across the country, states are concentrating efforts to meet the requirements and the spirit of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The implementation provisions and timelines are demanding and challenging for all districts. NCLB is particularly daunting, however, for rural and small districts. This paper outlines the characteristics of rural schools and…

This article focuses on the challenge of teacher retention in rural schools in relation to the No Child Left Behind mandate, that school districts must attract and retain highly qualified teachers. This case study examines the extent to which a rural school enhanced teacher retention by overcoming the barriers that might otherwise have presented a…

This research is a follow up to a similar study published by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania in 2003 in which researchers examined alternative education policies and practices among Pennsylvania school districts. The current study extended the previous research to include information on the perceptions of administrators and teachers on the…