INTRODUCTION

On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001.  This new law represents his education reform plan and contains the most sweeping changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act since it was enacted in 1965.  It changes the federal government's role in kindergarten through grade 12 education by asking America's schools to describe their success in terms of what each student accomplishes.

The purpose of No Child Left Behind is to ensure 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 and to close the achievement gap.

SOME OF THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES

• Increasing Accountability by Rewarding Success and Sanctioning Failure
• Increasing Flexibility for States, Districts, and Schools
• Improving Teacher Quality
• Improving Literacy by Putting Reading First
• Informing Parents
• Providing "Choice" for Parents and students
• Transitioning Limited English Proficient (LEP) Stduents to English Proficiency
• Emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work

SOME OF THE GOALS

•  All students will, at a minimum, obtain proficiency or better in reading and mathematics by 2013-2014 school year
• All students will be proficient in reading by the end of the third grade, starting with 2013-2014 school year
• All LEP students will be proficient in English
• All teachers will be highly qualified by 2005-2006 school years
• All students will be educated in learning environments that are safe, drug free and conducive to learning
• All students will graduate from high school

Supplemental Educational Services information for Jackson Central-Merry High School and Liberty Technology Magnet High School is included in this information.