ABSTRACT
In the US, responsibility for education has traditionally, and constitutionally, been limited to the states. Thus, federal involvement in education has a total history of about 50 years (1958–2010). However, one of the original pieces of federal education legislation, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 1965 (ESEA), has been repeatedly reauthorized and is now represented by the federal No Child Left Behind Act 2001. This original legislation (ESEA) provided federal funds to schools enrolling large numbers of students from low-income families. The major funding components have provided federal dollars to support additional education services that were designed to counteract the educational disadvantage brought about by the economic disadvantages of the families of the students (McGill-Franzen, 1987; McGill-Franzen and Goatley, 2001). Much of this funding has historically been allocated for the purposes of providing additional reading support for struggling readers from low-income families.
