From No Child Left Behind to Flexibility: An Observation from East Asia

Abstract

Due to the highly demanding requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, it seems out of the question for the U.S. government to achieve the original goal: 100% of students proficient at the national level by 2014. In order to conquer this challenging benchmark, the Obama Administration initiated regulations to waive individual state requirements and changed the content of accountability. This study is to demonstrate the change and the shift of the latest policy related above from the perspective of East Asia. In 2011 the Obama Administration declared the No Child Left Behind Act should be revised and the federal government initiate legislation to allow each state and the District of Columbia to apply for waivers from the No Child Left Behind regulations. This study argues the Obama Administration’s reform of No Child Left Behind will turn to a “fair accountability” system, which stresses a more positive discrimination of each state and school district. Compared to East Asian countries that receive recognition through international tests, the Obama Administration shows its policy philosophy as “regulated centrally, run independently.”