The No Child Left Behind Act doesn't have anything to do with refusing to require kids to be proficient in reading, writing, and math. In fact, no federal program has a significant impact on child development in schools. States and counties control the kid educational system. Not the feds. Actually, it starts in the home. Regardless, this is an insane policy.
You are correct, education is primarily a State and local responsibility. This is where most of the funding comes from. I believe the feds contribute somewhere around 8% towards education funding on average. Oregon spends $13,875 per public school student each year.
My property tax bill arrived in the mail yesterday. A little more than $4,000 of my property taxes go to school funding at the local level. State funding comes from income tax.
No matter what these acts are called, they all attempt to achieve the same end, which is proficiency in the three 'R's. The main way to prove their success or failure is through testing ‘teaching to the test’. No school district, individual school, or teacher wants to have a low ranking. There is much pressure on the administration, teachers, for the students to pass the tests.
Here is a bit of humor; the fact that the three R's stand for
Reading w
Riting and a
Rithmatic or Reading 'Riting and 'Rithmatic. What hick invented this acronym? Could have been (Sir William Curtis circa 1807) maybe or maybe not.
'Key Provisions of the
No Child Left Behind Act. States must implement annual state assessments in reading and mathematics in grades 3-8 and at least once in grades 10-12, and in science at least once in each of three grade spans: 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12.'
'Politicians and school officials in Oregon are embarrassed that
too many minority children fail tests designed to confirm they have mastered the ‘essential skills’ that high school is meant to teach,' (no child left behind)
'From 2012 to 2019, to graduate with an Oregon diploma, students had to show proficiency in nine “Essential Skills” including
reading, writing, math, etc.'
'On December 10, 2015, President Obama signed the
Every Student Succeeds Act.' This act says close to the same thing and did 'no child left behind.'