Brief History of US Education Law Pertaining to Student Testing

How have federal education laws acted to move us to today’s testing/assessment regime?

Here I look at four laws:

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 1965 (ESEA)
• Goals 2000: Educate America Act, 1994
• The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB)
• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)

... and you'll see how since the 1980s, the direction towards more testing with the purpose of enhancing school accountability has been continuous throughout different presidential administrations.