PARCC
Before No Child Left Behind, The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed in 1965 as a part of the "War on Poverty". In hopes of diminishing the achievement gap, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed to create equal opportunity and access to education through high standards and accountability. These standards and accountability techniques came in the form of standardized testing. For the first time, federal money was being sent into local schools and made the production of test-based evidence mandatory for all educators. Standards were being assessed on these state-created exams, and local schools were then accountable to perform on these exams. In 2002, Congress re-examined ESEA and reauthorized it as No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
Secondary education
The school boards set up by the 1870 Elementary Education Act (Forster Act) and were stopped from providing secondary education by the Cockerton Judgement of 1899. The school leaving age at this time was 10. The Judgement prompted the 1902 Education Act (Balfour Act). Compulsory education was extended to 12. The new Local Education Authorities (LEA)s that were formed from the school boards; started to open Higher Grade Elementary Schools (ISCED Level2) or county schools to supplement the endowed grammar schools. These LEAs were allowed to build second-grade secondary schools that in the main became the future secondary modern schools.