Bush signs No Child Left Behind, shifting K-12 accountability to states and establishing standardized testing as curriculum driver

President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act on January 8, 2002, reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and imposing annual standardized testing requirements on all public schools. NCLB required states to test students in reading and math in grades 3-8 and once in high school, and to demonstrate "adequate yearly progress" toward proficiency. Schools that failed to meet benchmarks faced escalating consequences including required tutoring, school choice options, and eventual restructuring. The law shifted curriculum decisions toward tested subjects — reading and math — and away from history, civics, and social studies, which were not subject to federal testing requirements.