As the Obama administration and Congress ponder the fate of the No Child Left Behind Act, Americans are inclined to retain it but not necessarily in its present form. Overall, 41% of Americans say Congress should keep the act but with major revisions, while 21% want it kept more or less in its present form, and 16% want it eliminated. About one in five do not have an opinion about the law. The percentage preferring to see No Child Left Behind kept, but with major revisions rises to a majority among those with an opinion on the law.
The No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002 as a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed in 1965. The law in its current form relies on measurement of student achievement through standardized testing, and attempts to hold schools accountable for failing to make progress.
President Obama is eager to revise if not replace No Child Left Behind, and leaders of both parties in Washington seem to agree on the need to change some provisions of the law. Among the more likely changes are revisions of the criteria used for judging schools as either making progress or failing, and easing the requirement that 100% of students be proficient at their grade level in math and reading by 2014.
