Much of the talk surrounding the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has been about funding and school accountability, but one of the ingredients essential to improving student and school performance is an involved, well-informed parent. Whether or not your child's school district is receiving Title I funding (90% of all school districts and 60% of all schools do receive a Title I grant), schools have a responsibility to keep you informed about their record, as well as that of your child.

Your School's Report Card
Under NCLB, all school districts are required to give the public timely, easy-to-read reports on the performance of the district, as well as every school in the district. To meet NCLB requirements, the Report Card must contain:

• Student achievement data for each school
• Student achievement data for each subgroup within the school (provided the subgroup meets or exceeds the size established by the state)
• Information about the professional qualifications of the teachers You will also receive information about the individual performance of your child on the state assessments required by NCLB. The results on state assessments provide important information about your child compared with where she should be on the grade level of a typical student her age.
• NCLB requires that the results of assessments be reported to you in writing along with an explanation of what those test results mean.

Getting Involved with Title 1 Schools
In addition to Report Cards, Title I school districts are required to have a parent involvement policy and to distribute their policy to parents. Other requirements for Title I schools within the district include:

• Providing parents with opportunities to participate in their child's class and to observe classroom activities.
• Providing parents with opportunities to inspect instructional materials used in the curriculum.
• Notifying parents of their right to request information about the education, training, and qualifications of their child's teachers and paraprofessionals.
• Notifying parents when a teacher who is not "highly qualified" teaches their child for four consecutive weeks.

A To-Do List for Parents
To be the best possible advocate for your child, we recommend that you use NCLB Report Cards and parent involvement requirements to:

Understand the performance of your child's school. Pay particular attention to the school's performance by subgroup, including the subgroup of special education students. The subgroup performance data will let you know if your school and district are teaching all students to high academic standards.

Find out if your child is progressing adequately on NCLB assessments of reading, math, and science. If you don't understand the test results for your child, ask your child's school to provide a written interpretation of her performance, including how she is doing in grade-level equivalents.

If your child's progress is poor, inquire about her specific academic weaknesses and ask for additional assistance for her.

-- At the beginning of each school year, request information on the qualifications of all teachers and paraprofessionals instructing your child. Find out if they are highly qualified and, in the case of special educators providing direct instruction to your child, are knowledgeable in the content areas they are teaching.

-- Observe the instruction and familiarize yourself with the instructional materials being used in your child's classroom.

-- If you have doubts about teaching methods or materials, ask the school for proof that they are based on effective scientifically-based research and provide the essential components of reading instruction, as prescribed in NCLB.

Finding out about your child's school's performance on state assessments, as well as how your child's performance compares with other children in her grade, will help ensure your child is getting the best education possible.

See also:
No Child Left Behind
"Making the 'No Child Left Behind Act' Work for Children Who Struggle to Learn: A Parent's Guide" (PDF)