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Virginia Tech

Local School Boards and "No Child Left Behind"

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

"No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) has generated considerable attention within the education world. The purpose of this thesis is to question how local governments, i.e., local Boards of Education, have reacted to the current involvement and demands of the federal government. NCLB has only started to have an impact on local schools in the last few years as they have begun to fall into various categories of being "in need of improvement" based on failing to meet established goals. School boards are put in a position to rethink their programs and reevaluate their own efforts as they attempt to insure students are meeting the benchmarks established by the federal and state governments and that Highly Qualified Teachers are in every child's classroom. This thesis looks at the actions of six districts in southern New Jersey that are not meeting these mandates and the actions of the Boards of Education towards student achievement and hiring teachers. Demands and requirements of federal and state legislation and policies are narrowing the areas in which school boards can take action. Those actions that are being taken appear to be led by the district Superintendent. This lack of leadership by the elected officials may eventually lead to school boards that are more and more community advisory boards and less and less governing bodies.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Political Science
Department dc:contributor.department
Political Science
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2008

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Richards, Randi Burke
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Hult, Karen M.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Walcott, Charles E.
  • Brians, Craig Leonard

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-05212008-162518
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/33076

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Richards, Randi Burke. Local School Boards and "No Child Left Behind". masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/33076