Quality education for all
BY TRESA ERICKSON

If your kids are in school, you have probably heard the term, "No child left behind." It comes from the No Child Left Behind Act that was passed soon after President George W. Bush entered office, which takes steps to ensure that all children receive a quality education and no one is left behind. The act attempts to fulfill this objective in several ways. As a parent, you may want to familiarize yourself with those ways to ensure your children do in fact receive a quality education.

To ensure that no child is left behind, the act provides the following benefits:

• More funding and flexibility. The act gives more money to school districts and allows them to use the money where it is needed most without having to deal with a lot of red tape and paperwork. It also provides more funding for reading programs to ensure that all children learn to read at grade level by age 9 or 10.

• More accountability and freedom. The act holds schools responsible for the test results of their students and grades them in report cards provided to the public. If a school is performing terribly, the act allows parents to transfer their children to better schools.

• More assistance and involvement. The act provides free tutoring and homework help through what is known as Supplemental Education Services to children whose schools have needed improvement for at least two years. It also requires schools to find ways to get parents more involved in their child's school.

• More testing and research. The act calls for students to be tested periodically throughout school to ensure they are where they need to be. It also encourages teachers to use teaching methods that have been proven to work through research rather than experimental ones and provides funding to help them improve their skills.

These are just some of the many measures that the act takes to ensure that all students receive a quality education. Of course, the execution and availability of each measure varies by school. For further details, contact the officials at the schools that your children attend.

The No Child Left Behind Act offers many benefits to education. Learn about them in depth and be sure you take advantage of all the ones offered by your children's schools.