The role of No Child Left Behind and High-Stakes Testing in curriculum. Nichols., Sharon^*,1, ¹ University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

ABSTRACT- The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act that was signed into law on January 8, 2002 is a complex piece of legislation designed to enhance students′ academic performance through a system of accountability. Under NCLB, all states must develop for each grade level a set of curriculum standards across all core subject areas (math, reading, science). Similarly, all states must develop a criterion-referenced standardized assessment system that measures student progress toward meeting these state-defined standards. Lastly, states must have some system of rewards and sanctions that are applied to all schools and are triggered by student performance on state assessments. Perhaps not surprisingly, the range and types of consequences vary from state to state. The goal of this presentation is to review the basic requirements stipulated under NCLB, to discuss how states vary in complying with NCLB, to discuss the role, impact, and intended (and unintended) consequences of high-stakes testing, and to discuss how NCLB generally and accountability systems specifically affect curriculum development and implementation.©

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