No Child Left Behind


What is No Child Left Behind?

In 2001, with strong bipartisan support, the nation embarked on an ambitious school reform plan entitled the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (P.L. 107-110). Among other things, NCLB requires states to set high standards for all students and holds schools accountable for the results. Further, it requires that there be a “highly qualified” teacher in every classroom.

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Why does it matter to libraries?

ALA applauds the objectives of NCLB, but believes the same standards being applied in our classrooms should be extended to our nation's school libraries - that every school library should be staffed by a highly qualified, state certified library media specialist.

Section 1119 of NCLB outlines the minimum qualifications needed by teachers and paraprofessionals who work in any facet of classroom instruction. It requires that states develop plans to achieve the goal that all teachers of core academic subjects be highly qualified by the end of the 2005-2006 school year. In an October 2005 letter, the U.S. Department of Education granted states a one-year extension on meeting the highly qualified requirements in NCLB. The U.S. Department of Education will consider four (4) factors to decide whether states have made enough progress to get the reprieve. If a state meets these requirements, that state will have the opportunity to negotiate and implement a revised plan for meeting the highly qualified goal by the end of the 2006-2007 school year.

Yet, despite the vital role school libraries play in helping meet those requirements, NCLB is silent when it comes to the qualification of those individuals in charge of our school libraries. School librarians fill multiple roles - teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator - ensuring that students and staff are effective users of information and ideas.

School libraries are critical partners in ensuring that states and school districts alike meet the reading requirements that are part of NCLB as well as President Bush's unequivocal commitment to ensuring that every child can read by the end of third grade. President Bush and the Congress recognized the important role school libraries play in increasing literacy and reading skills when they created the Improving Literacy Through School Library program as part of NCLB (Title I, Part B, Subpart 4, Sec.1251).

Multiple studies have affirmed that there is a clear link between school library media programs that are staffed by an experienced school library media specialist and student academic achievement. In states as dissimilar as Alaska, Pennsylvania, and Colorado, three recent statewide studies show that a strong library media program helps students learn more and score higher on standardized achievement test than their peers in library-impoverished schools.

When it comes to our children's education, we must ensure that they receive the best instruction possible from competent, qualified instructors. This is true in the classroom and should be true in our school libraries. Education is not exclusive to the classroom; it extends into school libraries and so should the qualification we demand of our school librarians. To be a critical part of a comprehensive and renewed strategy to ensure that students learn to read (and to read well), every school library should be staffed by a highly qualified, state certified library media specialist and every school should have a school library.

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Current Status

No Child Left Behind is up for reauthorization in 2007.


Other Information

Public law print of PL 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001  (PDF)

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