The No Child Left Behind legislation that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 2001, is a federal initiative that will have sweeping affect on states and school districts. On the positive side, it does provide a large investment in K-12 education in financial assistance to schools educating low-income students, professional development, educational technology, after-school programs, and other purposes. Along with providing additional resources, the No Child Left Behind legislation adds important accountability provisions and establishes a framework for moving every district in raising overall student achievement and in increasing parent involvement. The accountability provisions require states to set clear timelines for improving student achievement, with particular emphasis on closing achievement gaps between low-income and minority students and their peers. The new reporting provisions ensure that parents and the public will have a better sense of how schools are doing.

While states develop guidelines, procedures and assessments over the next few years, schools districts cannot wait for the details to begin to take action. Responding to these ambitious goals cannot be accomplished in a single school year. These new accountability requirements demand that schools align instruction with state standards, develop multiple assessment measures parallel to state assessments, reflect on instructional practice, create multiple learning activities collect and analyze student data, engage in effective professional development.

EdGate has been praised by educators and parents for providing the most comprehensive collection of tools and resources to assist school districts in meeting the expectations of "No Child Left Behind."

There are three strategies in meeting new federal expectations and avoiding the problems and expenses of sanctions on poor performance. These three strategies are:

• focus on tested state standards
• provide professional development opportunities for teachers to improve instruction
• improve communication with parents

Focus on Tested State Standards

• The EdGate Curriculum Matrix is the premier open-source database for lessons, assessments and Internet resources directly linked to each state's standards
• Proprietary research by EdGate and the International Center for Leadership in Education prioritizes standards based upon fulfilling essential skills and the probability of state testing
• The EdGate Curriculum matrix allows teachers to browse instructional activities related to standards thereby giving teachers a better idea of what the standards mean and how to prepare students to meet the standards
• When teachers analyze state test results and identify areas of deficiency, the Curriculum Matrix becomes a solution to locate alternative lesson plans to address the deficiencies
• EdGate's extensive number of resources empowers teachers to find alternative activities to meet the unique learning needs of all students. Since federal accountability demands achievement in all sub groups and a standard instructional method will not serve every student, the Curriculum Matrix delivers multiple lessons for each standard.

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Provide Professional Development for Teachers to Improve Instruction

• EdGate provides multiple, convenient and easy ways to find innovative teaching ideas from the Internet to improve instruction
• A collaborative means to share best teaching activities among staff
• EdGate's staff and partners provide exceptional professional Development on effectively integrating technology
• Tools to create online professional development that removes time and schedule barriers

Improved Communication with Parents

• EdgGte provides the Internet most popular teacher publishing tool to easily share student work assignment with parents
• SchoolNotes Web-based communication system enables all parents to communicate with teachers from any public internet access point even if they do not have personal internet accounts or e-mail
• SchoolNotes "Notify Me" feature can provide automatic notification to individual or groups of parents via email
• Teachers can easily share with parents learning resources for supplemental instruction. EdGate's organized resources empower parents to quickly locate online education resources that will assist their students to effectively complete homework assignments and projects

EdGate has the tools and resources to assist school districts in meeting the expectations of "No Child Left Behind".

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