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The U.S. federal government has played a growing role in setting nationwide education policy since the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965. This Act, along with the 'Equality of Educational Opportunity' report commissioned by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, led the U.S. Office of Education to pursue a policy agenda focused on equalizing access and ameliorating poverty through the education system. Despite the promotion of equity serving as the officially stated goal of federal policy, expert evaluations of the government's efforts incorporated technical assumptions from the field of economics that prioritized maximizing efficiency between inputs and outputs in the education system. When the ESEA was reauthorized in 2002 as No Child Left Behind, significant 'policy drift' had occurred such that the evaluation of teacher quality – which was the subject of a large literature in economics on the 'education production function' – was incorporated as a key component of the education system's flagship anti-poverty initiative, Title I. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 requires the use of evidence in adopting programs, particularly for children with reading disabilities. A quasi-experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a literacy intervention called Helping Early Readers Obtain Excellence in Special Education (HEROES), developed for children ages six to 10 with or at-risk of having reading disabilities. After establishing baseline equivalence on two outcome measures, we conducted hierarchical linear modeling using student and teacher covariates to adjust the estimated effects. Students who received HEROES (n = 329) significantly outperformed comparison students (n = 161) on a general reading achievement measure (ES =.25) and a word recognition task (ES =.17). Results of this external evaluation add to a growing evidence base that children with reading disabilities can make significant progress when effective interventions are implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), signed in 1965, was a pivotal civil rights law to address the dream of equitable education for all children on the mainland and in U.S. territories. The ESEA was followed by the Bilingual Education Act (BEA), signed by President Johnson in 1968. The BEA specifically addressed the necessities of students whose dominant language was not English. Together these two Acts passed in the 1960s offered new government attention in the form of grants and programs for the purpose of providing bilingual education. Both Acts were reauthorized in their 50-year-plus history. Rather than dwell on the government documents themselves, this article examines the question: In what ways do research studies published in the Bilingual Research Journal inform and hold us accountable to the dream of equity—a dream that mandates equitable access to and opportunities for successful learning outcomes for children from all communities including immigrant communities? A qualitative analysis is used to address the question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses aspects of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in the U.S. which is signed to envision transformative for the state's K-12 education particularly on funding, citing the issues of grant opportunities offered for K-12 geography.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESA) of 1965 was intended to ensure access to a quality education for low-income and minority children. President Lyndon B. Johnson, a teacher himself at the beginning of his career, saw education as a critical avenue out of poverty. The Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965 was intended to do the same for college and university education. Unfortunately, fifty years later the foundation of these important pieces of legislation has been eroded through continuing attacks on public education at all levels. The doors to quality public education are being closed, not only at the K-12 level but also at the college and university level as well. Why can we not do for today’s young people what was done for those of fifty years ago? Is not a quality public education still in the best interest of the common good? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract:One of the modifications of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (known as the No Child Left Behind Act) gave parents of low-income students in low-performing schools a choice of Supplemental Educational Services (SEdS). SEdS include tutoring or other academic support services offered outside the regular school day, at no charge to students or their families, by public or private organizations that have been approved by the state. We examine the impacts of SEdS on test scores among 24,000 students in school districts where SEdS were oversubscribed in Florida, Ohio, and Connecticut. Oversubscribed school districts are required to make SEdS available to the lowest achieving students among eligible applicants, creating the opportunity to estimate impacts using a regression discontinuity design, which relies on districts’ use of a continuous measure of prior academic achievement to determine which eligible applicants will be offered services. We find no impact of SEdS on student test scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses an institutional framework to analyze the political context of the next reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The authors analyze three relevant factors in the institutional environment: the role of traditional party politics, including theories of divided versus unified party government; the entrance of new players, both interest groups and think tanks, into the education policy arena; and stresses on the traditional coalition that historically supported education reform. The authors compare DW-Nominate ratings for the 107th Congress (which passed the No Child Left Behind Act) and the 111th Congress (which concluded in 2010) to measure the ideology of members of the education committees and the Congress as a whole. Although both education committees have witnessed aggregate shifts in a more conservative direction, the authors argue that the 112th Congress, which convenes for the first time in January 2011, is unlikely to pass President Obama's centrist education agenda, as a majority-Republican House, ideological divisions within each political party, and the politics of an upcoming presidential election are factors that militate against a bill's enactment before 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the use of standardized tests in early childhood. The author suggests the U.S. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation has changed the focus of teaching from critical thinking to testing of low-level skills. He comments on how U.S. public schools reveal social differences. Standardized testing was promoted as part of the U.S. Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). He suggests standardized tests can affect student motivation and undermine the school curriculum.

In this article, the author discusses the role of benchmarking in the U.S. education progress. He mentions that No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was passed by the U.S. Congress to enhance academic achievements of their students. He states that benchmarks are used to recognize problems related to the national education policy and were developed only because states co-opted for the previous national legislation. He informs that to improve the education equality, one billion U.S. dollars were paid to students with low-income under Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) than paying to school. The federal policy makers by 1999 made strict benchmarks related to education system in NCLB.

The article discusses the virtual schools, an educational organization that offers K-12 courses through internet or web-based methods, that play an important role in the future of physical and health education in the U.S. It highlights the factors that are pushing school administrators to consider the use of online and virtual school setting for physical education credits throughout the K-12 setting. The article also includes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

Now, the real work starts. For over half a decade we have talked about moving from science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM). While we must continue to advocate for STEAM education, the passing of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in December 2015 has moved us into the implementation stage. ESSA is intended to empower state and local decision makers to build differentiated community-based systems for school improvement in ways that “cookie-cutter federal solutions like No Child Left Behind” never supported (White House Report, 2015, December 10, n.p.). In the reauthorization and amendment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) achieved under ESSA, “Arts and music education are specified as eligible uses for new, state-administered ‘Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants’ including support for the arts in STEM education” (ESEA Reauthorization is Finalized as Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA], n.p.). Now that the federal government recognizes the role that the arts can play to elevate STEM education, it is time to ask ourselves some important questions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers news briefs related to schools in Illinois. Schools in the state plan to implement several innovative programs that include the gifted program for elementary school children, artist-in-residence program and the artists as demonstrators and lecturers program. Several schools in the state are preparing to develop programs with funds provided under Title I of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

The article offers North Carolina news briefs on art education. The function of the state supervisors of art education was changed after the implementation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. An annual workshop conference will be organized by the North Carolina Art Education Association from April 1 to 2, 1966 at the East Carolina College. A 10,000 dollar gift for the exhibition "Art on Paper" will be given by the Weatherspoon Art Gallery of the University of North Carolina.

A review of the research brief "Expanding Measures of School Performance Under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act" published by Rand Education in Santa Monica, CA, in 2011, is presented.

The article reports that the U.S. Office of Education has approved a total of 336 projects, under Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which is created to fund supplementary educational centers and services focusing on innovation. These projects, which amount to $23.8 million, were chosen for financing from among 961 applications submitted in the second of three rounds of applications. The approval of these projects, which consists of 232 planning and 104 operational projects, will bring the total number of projects to be given funds under the Act's Title III to 553.

The article reports on the symposium being planned by the Connecticut Arts Association. In this symposium, the arts association aims to clarify the role of art teachers in the submission of requests for funds that were made available under a particular education law. The legislation referred to is the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The Connecticut Association is planning to conduct the symposium with the Connecticut State Department, so they could further shed light on this issue.