No Child Left Behind Act: Improvements Needed in Education's Process for Tracking States' Implementation of Key Provisions
Highlights
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA) has focused national attention on improving the academic achievement of the nations' 48 million students by establishing a deadline--school year 2013-14--for public schools to ensure that all students are proficient in reading and math. Accordingly, states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico developed plans that set goals for increasing the numbers of students who attain proficiency on state tests each year, with all meeting goals by 2014. To provide information about states' efforts, GAO determined (1) what goals states established for student proficiency and their implications for whether schools will meet these goals; (2) what factors facilitated or impeded selected state and school district implementation efforts; and (3) how the Department of Education (Education) supported state efforts and approved state plans to meet student proficiency requirements.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Education | For those states that have plans that did not meet all NCLBA requirements and still have conditional approval, the Secretary of Education should delineate in writing the process and time frames that are appropriate for each state's particular circumstances to meet conditions for full approval. |
Closed – Implemented
Education officials reported that they notified each state in writing (with the issuance of its July 2004 ESEA Title I formula grant award) of the specific conditions that must be met in order to receive full approval. The agency reports that all states have met the conditions for and thus have received full approval of their accountability plans.
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| Department of Education | Further, the Secretary of Education should develop a written plan that includes steps and time frames so that all states have approved NCLBA standards and assessment systems by the 2005-06 school year. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department developed a written plan with steps and time frames and submitted this plan to each Chief State School Officer. The Department has also held meetings with state officials to provide more information on the guidance and process for reviewing state systems. Through Consolidated State Performance Reports, the Department collected status information on each state's system and has begun reviewing that information. It has also trained peer reviewers and conducted reviews of systems in five states with plans to conduct more reviews later in 2005 and in 2006.
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| Department of Education | To improve the validity and reliability of state data used to determine whether schools are meeting state goals, the Secretary of Education should further support states' abilities to gather accurate student data through activities such as disseminating best practices and designating technical specialists who can serve as resources to help states. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Education issued "Improving Data Quality for Title I Standards, Assessment, and Accountability Reporting: Guidelines for States, LEAs, and Schools (Non-Regulatory Guidance)" in April 2006. This guidance, focused on state, local education agencies, and school Title I Report Cards, is tailored specifically to address our recommendation as well as the recommendations of Education's Office of Inspector General (OIG). In February 2004, the OIG had noted that assessment scoring errors could potentially jeopardize the successful implementation of NCLB, and recommended that the Education develop best practices for management controls over scoring of state assessments. In September 2004, GAO identified numerous data quality problems in the states related to NCLB accountability and reiterated OIG's call for guidelines.
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