The American Federation of Teachers has long been a leader in promoting high standards of learning and teaching and is working actively to close the achievement gap. When the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) became law in 2002, the AFT hoped that the resources earmarked for NCLB would be provided and that the law would be implemented in a way that would strengthen public education while raising the academic achievement of all students.
 
Unfortunately, flaws in the law are undercutting its original promise. Guidance for states has been unclear, untimely and unhelpful, and the U.S. Department of Education's attempts to make the law more flexible have brought about only minimal improvements without addressing NCLB's larger flaws. Underlying all these issues is the pervasive problem of funding, which is far less than what was promised and far less than what is needed. The stakes are too high for our children to wait until the upcoming reauthorization before we begin talking about how to make positive improvements to NCLB.

The AFT wants to work with Congress and the administration to support constructive changes to the law that reflect our members' views about what works best for the children they serve. We also want to secure the funding needed to get the job done.

AFT's recommendations to improve NCLB focus on four areas:

Adequate Yearly Progress
The current law's mechanism for holding schools accountable, the adequate yearly progress (AYP) formula, doesn't really measure progress and fails to distinguish between effective and ineffective schools. The AFT has laid out the principles that would produce a better measure of school progress. For more information on AYP, click here.

Highly Qualified Staff
The AFT supports the intention of the staff quality provisions of NCLB, which is to ensure that all students are taught by teachers who know their subject matter and how to teach, and are supported by well-trained paraprofessionals. There are real problems, however, with the implementation of these provisions. The AFT has recommendations to correct those problems. For more information on staff quality, click here.

School Improvement and Services for Students
The AFT believes that intervention is necessary to raise student achievement in struggling schools. But there is little evidence to suggest that NCLB's sanctions are effective. AFT's experience with school improvement has helped us identify proven strategies to raise student achievement. For more information on school improvement and student services, click here.

Funding
The promise to fund NCLB remains unfulfilled. This shortfall has undercut the efforts of states, districts and schools at a time when they are working to meet new, rigorous requirements for students and teachers. For more information on NCLB's underfunding, click here.