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Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
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| Education policy in the U.S. |
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The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) (P.L. 89-10) was enacted by the U.S. Congress on April 9, 1965, as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” President Johnson, a former teacher, believed that equal access to education was important in enabling children to become productive citizens. This landmark legislation specifically authorized the federal government to equalize educational opportunities of all children by directing federal education dollars to the most disadvantaged children living in poverty. In addition to creating a federal role in directing public education dollars to policy goals, such as eliminating poverty, the ESEA relied on state government to administer funding in order to avoid the criticism of federal control. This resulted in the expansion of state departments of education, and a greater role for the states in making education policy.[1]
Reauthorizations
Since its inception in 1965, the ESEA has been reauthorized eight times, including the Improving America's School Act (IASA) of 1994 and, most recently, as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, which has directed nearly $13 billion federal dollars toward low-income students under Title I, Part A, to equalize educational opportunities and resources for disadvantaged children. Title I, Part A of NCLB specifically addressed compensating education for disadvantaged children by determining which students are eligible and how much they are eligible to receive. Since there is significant discretion at both the state and local levels, there are variations in amounts per student between the Local Education Associations (LEAs) and schools that have similar demographics. Over time, since the first iteration of the EASA of 1965, the funding mechanisms have become ever more complicated, and the bureaucracy needed to implement the program has grown significantly.[2]
Waivers
In September of 2011, in order to support local and state education reform across America, the Obama administration set forth the outlines of a program to show how states can get relief from provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—or No Child Left Behind (NCLB). States can request flexibility from specific NCLB mandates that they believe are stifling reform, if they can show that they are "transitioning students, teachers, and schools to a system aligned with college- and career-ready standards for all students, developing differentiated accountability systems, and undertaking reforms to support effective classroom instruction and school leadership."[3] According to the ESEA Flexibility webpage, the U.S. Department of Education has "invited each State educational agency (SEA) to request flexibility regarding specific requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) in exchange for rigorous and comprehensive State-developed plans designed to improve educational outcomes for all students, close achievement gaps, increase equity, and improve the quality of instruction."[4]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Social Welfare History Project, "The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965," accessed June 23, 2014
- ↑ The Heritage Foundation, "A Closer Look at Title I: Making Education for the Disadvantaged More Student-Centered," June 29, 2007
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, September 21, 2011
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, "ESEA Flexibility," accessed July 14, 2014
