“Fixing NCLB” in the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)

The Obama administration’s blueprint to Congress calls for a broad overhaul of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law (the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA), and urges bipartisan support for reshaping the federal role in education and redressing controversial NCLB provisions around teaching, assessments, standards, and curriculum. Currently, NCLB affects each of the nation’s nearly 100,000 public schools, and President Obama’s plan aims to strike a careful balance by retaining some of its key features, including its requirement for annual reading and math assessments, while proposing other far-reaching changes.