The No Child Left Behind Act has great potential to improve public education but also poses considerable challenges states, school districts and schools. Implementing the No Child Left Behind Act, a collection of essays published jointly by the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, focuses positively on what states, districts and the federal government must do to build capacity to meet these challenges. In these essays, leading education researchers, policymakers, and practitioners at the local, state and national level offers a variety of perspectives and recommendations for addressing the most challenging components of implementing No Child Left Behind -- creating strong accountability systems, fixing failing schools, strengthening public school choice and ensuring teacher quality. Essays include:

• The Issue of State Capacity by Marc Tucker, President, National Center on Education and the Economy
• Complying with NCLB is Not Enough by James A. Peyser, Chairman, Massachusetts Board of Education
• Eight Lessons from North Carolina by J.B. Buxton, Senior Education Advisor to Governor Michael Easley
• Adequate Yearly Progress Under NCLB by Kati Haycock, Director and Ross Wiener, Policy Director, the Education Trust
• The Need for Triage by Thomas J. Kane, Professor of Policy Studies and Economics, UCLA
• Memorandum on Struggling Schools by Sandy Kress, Partner, Akin, Gump
• Resuscitating Failing Schools in Georgia by Davis Nelson, Executive Director, Georgia Office of Education Accountability
• A "Supply-Side" Solution by Andrew Rotherham, Director, 21st Century Schools Project, Progressive Policy Institute
• Meaningful School Choice? Not Without Bold Federal Action by Greg Richmond, Director, Chicago Public School Charter School Office and President, National Association of Charter School Authorizers
• Teaching Fellows and Other Solutions for Hard-to-Staff Schools by Judith Rizzo, Executive Director, James B. Hunt Jr. Institute
• The Case for Differential Pay by Bryan C. Hassel, President, Public Impact
• Expired Licenses by Frederick M. Hess, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
• Rethinking Teacher Licensure by Leo Klagholz, former New Jersey Commissioner of Education

Implementing No Child Left Behind was released at an April 9, 2003, conference in Washington, DC, where national journalists lead discussions with panels including essay authors and key legislators, researchers, and state and federal officials involved in writing and implementing the law.

Panelists at the Implementing the No Child Left Behind Act Conference discuss ways to strengthen public school choice. Participants in this panel included moderator Claudio Sanchez of NPR, Greg Richmond of the Chicago Public Schools Charter Office, Legislative Assistant to Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) Jessica Hafer, Education Week writer Erik Robelen, and Lawrence Patrick III, President of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (out of photo).

Related Links:

Implementing No Child Left Behind (PDF):
www.ppionline.org/documents/Ed_NCLB_0403.pdf

Conference Agenda:
www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?contentid=251470
&knlgareaid=110&subsecid=134

"Increasing the Supply of Public Schools,"
By Andrew J. Rotherham, PPI, April 9, 2003:
www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110
&subsecid=134&contentid=251463

National Center on Education and the Economy:
www.ncee.org

Thomas B. Fordham Foundation:
www.edexcellence.net