The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush to assure that ALL children in the nation are provided equal access to a quality education. The objective of NCLB is to “improve the performance of America's elementary and secondary schools while at the same time ensuring that no child is trapped in a failing school.” As a result of the Act, states adopted testing methods to assess whether all children were reaching desired educational outcomes. These assessments were adopted to help states guide their progress in achieving the NCLB goals—a step needed to make sure that all children were learning what we want them to know and be able to do.

An outcome of the testing was that students were grouped into areas (sub-groups) to see who would benefit from needed attention. Within this website, the Virginia Department of Education furnishes resources that focus on three of the NCLB sub-groups 1) economically disadvantaged students, 2) students with disabilities, and 3) limited English proficiency. As you enter the NCLB part of this site you can read more about NCLB and how your state/district/school is doing.