ABSTRACT
Political fraud is the best description of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The legislation was bipartisan, with both Democrats and Republicans claiming that curriculum standards tied to high-stakes testing would result in educating workers who would be able to compete for the best paying jobs in the global economy. The heart of the implementation strategy was an “Accountability Package,” which would appear in an altered form as part of NCLB. The importance New Democrats gave to NCLB in fulfilling their educational and economic goals was exemplified by their reaction to the passage of the legislation. Some of the purely Republican concerns that found their way into NCLB are resulting in major changes in public schooling. Some critics claim that NCLB will result in the privatization of public schools. In addition, the Christian Coalition believed that a religious freedom amendment would protect the rights of students to express their religious beliefs in the classroom.
