Connecting The Course

The Assessment Loop

Abstract

In January 2002 President George W. Bush signed into law "An Act to close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind."1 This "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) law expanded federal jurisdiction of elementary and secondary schooling in the United States, which, from the founding of this country until the Lyndon B. Johnson administration, had been under the sole jurisdiction of state and local governments. NCLB also mandated the states to set standards for students from kindergarten through twelfth grade and to develop standardized assessments of student learning in mathematics, English, and science. The law required improvements in schools where the majority of students were failing, and it also required states to provide for student transfers from schools with failing records to schools where students were meeting statewide assessment standards.