July 1, 2002. U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced that students in more than 8,600 schools will have the option to choose and attend a higher-performing school in their school district if the school they currently attend failed to meet state academic standards for two consecutive years.

The new options are available to parents of students in Title I-funded schools, and were established under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which was signed into law by President Bush on January 8, 2002.

The new educational options must be provided at the start of the 2002-2003 school year.

"This is a new day in education and opportunity for the nation's neediest children," Paige said. "For the first time, school districts must tell, and parents will know, which schools are not making sufficient academic progress. Parents will now have new options to give their child a quality education. And new requirements for reporting on student and group progress will shine a light on achievement gaps that may have been masked in the past."

The data covers schools in which students have not made adequate yearly progress (AYP). AYP is a state's annual measure of school progress toward achieving state academic content standards.

"Public schools that fail to meet state standards for two years will offer children more choices." -- U. S. Dept of Education

Under the 1994 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the precursor to the No Child Left Behind Act, each state was responsible for developing state content standards, assessments and definitions of AYP. In each state, schools that failed to make state-defined AYP for two or more years were identified as in need of school improvement. States reported the numbers to the U.S. Department of Education this spring. Because of differences in the ways each state defines school progress, state comparisons are not valid.

Under NCLB, the data on school progress will be more meaningful. Unlike the 1994 law, there are consequences for schools that fail to improve and educational options for students who attend schools that are not improving under NCLB:

* States must have one accountability system for all students including academic standards, assessments and proficiency levels.

* All schools will be expected to reach 100 percent proficiency by the end of the 2013-14 school year.

* State test results must be broken out by major racial and ethnic groups, disadvantaged students, students with disabilities and limited English proficient students. Each group must show improvement.

* Information on student progress and school success must be shared annually with parents.

* School districts are required to help cover the costs of transportation for students who exercise their choice option.

To assist parents in obtaining supplemental services, states will prepare a list of approved service providers that can provide after-school, before-school, summer school or weekend help in reading and math.

Providers are to provide high-quality, research-based instruction in line with state standards, and services can come from school districts, non-profit and for-profit organizations, faith-based groups and charity organizations.

Also, to help prepare states and districts to implement the new provisions, Paige recently hosted state and local education officials for a conference about the supplemental services requirements during which he shared a letter to states that included preliminary guidance which is available at

http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/06-2002/06142002.html

States and most high-poverty districts are receiving significant increases in Title I funding to help support activities to improve schools, Paige said. State Title I allocations can be viewed at
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/Budget03/03StateTables/index.html

The list of states and number of schools follows. The information in this list was provided by each state.

Title I Schools Identified for Improvement: Total 8,652

Alabama	57	Montana	68
Alaska	11	Nebraska	105
Arizona	344	Nevada	19
Arkansas	0	New Hampshire	4
California	1,009	New Jersey	274
Colorado	154	New Mexico	63
Connecticut	28	New York	529
Delaware	20	North Carolina	17
District of Columbia	12	North Dakota	20
Florida	246	Ohio	760
Georgia	625	Oklahoma	33
Hawaii	85	Oregon	9
Idaho	88	Pennsylvania	256
Illinois	435	Puerto Rico	234
Indiana	97	Rhode Island	34
Iowa	26	South Carolina	31
Kansas	118	South Dakota	13
Kentucky	107	Tennessee	132
Louisiana	24	Texas	121
Maine	19	Utah	22
Maryland	118	Vermont	28
Massachusetts	259	Virginia	35
Michigan	1,513	Washington	60
Minnesota	79	West Virginia	13
Mississippi	122	Wisconsin	113
Missouri	63	Wyoming	0

Related Resources: No Child Left Behind Act

No Child Left Behind Facts Sheets

Letter from U. S. Secretary of Education to School Leaders About School Choice, Supplemental Education Services (June 14, 2002)

"The NCLBA will substantially affect the 2002-2003 school year, and given our short timeline for implementation, I wanted to provide you with preliminary guidance on public school choice, supplemental education services, and collective bargaining agreements--three key issues that will affect your planning processes for this fall." Read more

No Child Left Behind Newsletter - Subscribe to electronic newsletter for information, events, announcements about No Child Left Behind (April 2002- Present)

No Child Left Behind Info & Resources from Wrightslaw

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