The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), is a wide ranging law meant to provide support to schools in high poverty areas, among other things. Since 2001, NCLB’s accountability provisions have applied to all public schools in the U.S. These provisions require that students be assessed on a regular basis, their scores be disaggregated by category – economic disadvantage, race and ethnicity, disabilities, and limited English proficiency – and the overall and subgroup scores reported through school, district, and state “report cards.” The goal is to have all students in the U.S. score at “proficiency” level on these tests by 2012. - http://nad.org/issues/civil-rights/NCLB
NCLB, IDEA, and Deaf Children
Two pieces of federal legislation have had a significant impact on the education of deaf and hard of hearing children: the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA).
No Child Left BehindThe NCLB was authorized in 2002 as Public Law 107-110 to:
- Raise the academic achievement of all students up to age 21, regardless of race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, proficiency level in English and/or disability;
- Close the achievement gap which continues to pervade the educational system.
- Develop challenging academic standards and benchmarks
- Develop annual academic assessments
- Ensure that every teacher is highly qualified
- Define the amount of academic progress to be achieved in order to reach proficiency goal by 2014
- Test at least 95% of all students
- Determine a minimum size required for subgroups of students to be included in the annual yearly progress (AYP) calculations
- Make available every reasonable adaptations and accommodations for students with disabilities; and
- Produce an annual Report Card of performance that is available to the public.
- Attain a rating of minimum proficiency or better in reading and mathematics by 2014
- Become proficient readers upon finishing their third grade
- Become proficient in English if they have limited proficiency in English;
- Be taught only by highly qualified teachers
- Be educated in safe, drug-free and conducive learning environments; and
- Graduate from high school.
Individuals with Disabilities Education ActFirst passed by Congress in 1975 as the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142), the IDEA legislation required that all students with disabilities up to age 21 must be provided with free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment and with accommodations.
Since the original legislation was passed, states and educational institutions that receive IDEA funds have been required to:
- Provide full educational opportunities to children with disabilities within a specific timeframe
- Identify, locate and evaluate all children within their jurisdiction who are in need of special education and related services
- Ensure that all special education teachers are highly qualified
- Evaluate all children suspected to have a disability following the IDEA guidelines
- Develop annually an individualized educational plan (IEP) for all special needs children; and
- Ensure a least restrictive environment for all special needs children, removing them from regular classroom environments only if they have severe disabling conditions that can be addressed in a more focused environment
What this Means for Deaf ChildrenIn the past, children with disabilities, including many deaf and hard of hearing children, were frequently left out of the state and district level assessment and accountability systems. In many cases they also did not have access to the general curriculum on which these assessments are based. Because this type of access and assessment did not happen, there were no external measures to indicate whether deaf and hard of hearing students were learning enough to move on to a post-secondary education or to get a job, and there was no system to hold anybody accountable.
With the NCLB, deaf and hard of hearing students and students with disabilities may no longer be excluded from any type of assessment available to students attending mainstream academic programs. Furthermore, they will be educated according to the same standards-based curriculum in which every student in the same state is expected to become proficient. Now, IEPs must also address how students with disabilities will participate in state assessments in the same way as other students, or with accommodations or by participating in alternate assessments (in the case of students who have documented severe cognitive or developmental disabilities).
Thus, NCLB and IDEA work together to ensure that deaf and hard of children have the following:
- Access to the same standards and benchmarks that other students do
- Support to help them succeed
- A system of assessments that tracks their progress
- This brochure explains the purpose and components NCLB and how it relates to IDEA. This clear explanation of how the two laws work together will be helpful for parents and educators alike. NCLB and IDEA: What Parents of Students with Disabilities Need to Know and Do
- This PowerPoint presentation is an introduction to NCLB Basics. It was developed at the Clerc Center using information provided in the above brochure.
- Deaflinx.com describes public laws that affect deaf education.
NCLB, IDEA, and Deaf Children. (2015, January 21). Retrieved from http://www.gallaudet.edu/clerc_center/information_and_resources/info_to_go/laws/nclb_and_idea.html