The term almost conjures up images of Bartleby the Scrivener, the protagonist of Herman Melville's eponymous tale.
Earlier this year T.H.E. Journal had the opportunity to ask Florida's Chief Technology Officer Ruben Lopez a few questions about how Florida is dealing with the the No Child Left Behind Act.
Imagine a system for collecting vital data on a group of individuals, numbering in the millions, crucial to ensuring the future safety and success of our country.
Since congress passed the elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, the role of the U.S. government in education has expanded, leading to the bipartisan reauthorization of ESEA in 2001 called the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act - clearly the most dramatic change in national school legislation since ESEA's inception.
When it comes to the legislation known as Reading First - a law with profound implications for how our children will learn to read - President George W. Bush's administration has backed up its words with forceful policy, its policy with unprecedented amounts of money, and its money with a plan for vigilant enforcement.
No child left behind reflects conservative goals, namely accountability and parent choice, to be met through liberal means: increased salaries and financial incentives for teachers, reduced class size, and targeting of funds on high-poverty schools and districts.
The technology component of the No Child Left Behind Act, Title II, Part D, "Enhancing Education Through Technology," made some significant changes to what states must do to receive technology money, as well as how that money is to be used within the state.
Whatever your feelings are about No Child Left Behind, you cannot mistake its serious intent - relentlessly focused on the need to raise student achievement for grades 3-8.
Recently, I set out to find an answer to the question of what current research was saying about how, if at all, the Web impacted student learning.