Do I Understand ESEA?
This question — do I understand ESEA — should have been a starting point for President Obama and all 535 members of Congress as they approached the reauthorization of ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act). I’m only attempting to answer the question today because a citizen on Facebook asked it and I happened to see it. It’s an excellent question with answers that have varied according to who is speaking and the depth of their understanding or political motivation.
It is confusing.
ESEA —the original 1965 law— and NCLB (No Child Left Behind) aretechnically the same law but the similarities in their purposes and methods are few.
Here is an explanation directly from Senator Crapo of Idaho.
ESEA was actually enacted in 1965 and its focus was on funding to children disadvantaged by poverty. The funds were to meet under-privileged children’s educational needs through improved teacher, counselor, and state leadership training, community support services, and increasing support for libraries and learning materials.
We stopped questioning authority?
The provisions ended in 2007? That’s confusing. It makes it sound as if NCLB ended; it did not! Congress just FAILED at that point to do their jobs and the detrimental effects of the law continued unchecked for eight more years.
Here’s how it once worked.
To implement the original ESEA required low-income communities to identify the needs of impoverished children and develop plans to address those needs. This is because the Do I Understand ESEA? - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial Voice:
