Phonemic Awareness
The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds—phonemes—in spoken words. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that the sounds of spoken language work together to make words.

Phonics
The understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes—the sounds of spoken language—and graphemes—the letters and spellings that represent those sounds in written language. Readers use these relationships to accurately and automatically recognize familiar words and to decode unfamiliar words.

Vocabulary Development
Development of stored information about the meanings and pronunciation of words necessary for communication. There are four types of vocabulary:

1. Listening vocabulary: the words needed to understand what is heard
2. Speaking vocabulary: the words used when speaking
3. Reading vocabulary: the words needed to understand what is read
4. Writing vocabulary: the words used in writing

Reading Fluency, Including Oral Reading Skills
Fluency is the ability to read text accurately and quickly. It provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. Fluent readers recognize words and comprehend at the same time.

Reading Comprehension Strategies
Strategies for understanding, remembering, and communicating with others about what has been read. Comprehension strategies are sets of steps that purposeful, active readers use to make sense of text.

Beginning with the 2002-2003 school year, school districts across the U.S. will implement a vast array of historic changes aimed at substantially improving their academic programs, raising student achievement levels, and reprioritizing their education investments.

According to U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige: “The new law will give states more flexibility on how they spend their education dollars. In return, it requires them to set standards for student achievement, and hold students, teachers, and other educators accountable for results. No Child Left Behind also will give parents new opportunities to make sure their children receive the very best education possible.”

The No Child Left Behind Act targets six fundamental areas that will characterize federal education assistance for years to come:

Accountability
The Act requires all students to be measured against challenging academic standards and all districts to establish and meet annual performance benchmarks. It also places an important priority on targeting assistance to society’s most disadvantaged students in hopes of closing the learning divide once and for all.

Literacy
President Bush has made stamping out illiteracy in grades pre-K-3 one of the primary goals of the new law. Federal assistance for reading — through the new Reading First initiative — will be increased by more than 200 percent. This unprecedented support underscores the strong correlation made between literacy and achievement throughout the NCBLA.

A focus on “what works”
For the first time ever, federal assistance to school districts will be linked to classroom use of curricula and instructional materials built upon “scientifically-based research.” The President and Congress strongly believe that by utilizing instructional techniques that have a proven track record of effectiveness in the classroom, schools and students stand a much better chance of excelling to higher levels of achievement.

Professional development
There will be a substantially greater focus on increasing the numbers of individuals entering the K-12 teaching profession as well as offering new opportunities for professional development for current educators and administrators. Local school districts will receive assistance to help craft teacher quality programs based upon their own specific prerogatives.

Education technology
Federal assistance for classroom technology investment will increase by 56 percent in the coming year. The Act places a priority on fully integrating technology into teaching and learning as a means for improving student achievement. The Act specifies that every student in the U.S. needs to become technologically-literate by the end of the eighth grade.

Parental involvement
Throughout the NCLBA parents are empowered with new ways to assure their children receive the very best education possible. Among the changes in the law is a significantly greater emphasis on informing parents about the quality of their child’s education and school.