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GAO

Accountability * Integrity * Reliability

United States Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC 20548

September 23, 2004

The Honorable Kent Conrad
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on the Budget

United States Senate

The Honorable Susan Collins

Chairman

Committee on Governmental Affairs

United States Senate

The Honorable Michael Enzi

United States Senate

The Honorable Tim Johnson

United States Senate

In an effort to improve the academic achievement of all of the nation's
48 million school-aged children, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA)
introduced significant changes to how states, districts, and schools are
held accountable for their students' academic performance and teachers'
qualifications. The Congress, as well as state and district education
officials, has expressed concerns that many rural districts are
encountering difficulties in implementing NCLBA provisions. NCLBA
requires districts and schools to assess students' reading, math and
science abilities and measure the results against a level of proficiency that
has been established by the state. As a condition for receiving federal
funds, NCLBA currently requires states to ensure that every student
becomes proficient in reading and math by school year 2013-14. NCLBA
also requires that teachers of core academic subjects, such as English,
meet teacher qualification requirements, and most of these teachers must
do so by the end of the 2005-06 school year. To meet requirements
teachers must have a bachelor's degree, be state-certified to teach, and
demonstrate subject matter competence in each core academic subject
that they teach. Because of the small size and geographic isolation of many
rural districts and schools, there is a concern that these districts and
schools may find it difficult to implement some NCLBA provisions. In the
2001-02 school year, rural districts comprised 25 percent of all school
districts in the country.