No Child Left Behind Act

An American Educational Research Association finds that teachers are more satisfied with their job, have higher commitment to the profession, feel more autonomous, and feel more supported by school administrators since the creation of No Child Left Behind in 2001. The findings come from a study comparing responses from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Schools and Staffing Survey, a nationally representative survey of K-12 teachers, from the years 1993-1994 and 1999-2000 (before the introduction of NCLB) to the years 2003-2004 and 2007-2008 (after the implementation of NCLB). The researchers state:

While teachers’ hours worked have increased, so have their feelings of classroom control and their perceptions of support from peers, administrators, and parents. Concomitantly, teacher job satisfaction and commitment to the profession appear to have increased over this time period as well.