No Child Left Behind Act

“No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) legislation of the G.W. Bush presidency, passed in 2001, which required school districts to adopt regular (annual) tests of math and literacy for several grades from elementary through high school. These tests are dubbed high stakes tests because failure to pass them may have severe consequences for students, teachers, or entire schools (depending on the state).

Schools are required to demonstrate “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP) on student test results or face sanctions. These standardized tests and their high stakes consequences have been attacked as punitive and too narrow, leading to “teaching-to-the-test” at the cost of other goals. They have been defended as “holding schools accountable” and focusing needed attention on under-achieving students and under-performing teachers and schools. NECAP (the New England Common Assessments Program) is a series of NCLB tests used in most New England States, including New Hampshire and Vermont.