This page uses extracted PDF text. Text can misread numbers, dates or table columns. Check the PDF before quoting or interpreting it. Redacted areas remain redacted.
HISTORY OF THE US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FEDERAL PROGRAMS
History of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was a cornerstone of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty”
who signed it into law in 1965. President Johnson believed that "full educational opportunity" should be "our first national
goal." From its inception, ESEA was a civil rights law.
ESEA is an extensive statute that funds primary and secondary education, emphasizing high standards and accountability.
ESEA offered new grants to districts serving low-income students, federal grants for textbooks and library books, funding for
special education centers, and scholarships for low-income college students. Additionally, the law provided federal grants to
state educational agencies to improve the quality of elementary and secondary education. The government has
reauthorized the act every five years since its enactment.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and Accountability, 2001
The 2001 reauthorization of ESEA under President George W. Bush was known as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. NCLB
put in place measures that exposed achievement gaps among traditionally underserved students and their peers and
spurred an important national dialogue on education improvement. This focus on accountability has been critical in
ensuring a quality education for all children, yet also revealed challenges in the effective implementation of this goal.
Parents, educators, and elected officials across the country recognized that a strong, updated law was necessary to expand
opportunity to all students; support schools, teachers, and principals; and to strengthen our education system and
economy.
In 2012, the Obama administration began granting flexibility to states regarding specific requirements of NCLB in exchange
for rigorous and comprehensive state - developed plans designed to close achievement gaps, increase equity, improve the
quality of instruction, and increase outcomes for all students.
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), 2015
President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law on December 10, 2015 which represented good
news for our nation’s schools. Building on key areas of improvement, this bipartisan measure reauthorized the 50-year-old
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s national education law and longstanding commitment to
equal opportunity for all students.
ESSA includes provisions that will help to ensure success for students and schools. Below are just a few.
The law:
•
Advances equity by upholding critical protections for America's disadvantaged and high-need students.
•
Requires—for the first time—that all students in America be taught to high academic standards that will
prepare them to succeed in college and careers.
•
Ensures that vital information is provided to educators, families, students, and communities through annual
statewide assessments that measure students' progress toward those high standards.
•
Helps to support and grow local innovations—including evidence-based and place-based interventions
developed by local leaders and educators—consistent with our Investing in Innovation and Promise Neighborhoods
•
Sustains and expands this administration's historic investments in increasing access to high-quality preschool.
•
Maintains an expectation that there will be accountability and action to effect positive change in our lowest-
performing schools, where groups of students are not making progress, and where graduation rates are low over
extended periods of time.
2Jump to an indexed page (21 of 21)