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).
Raising of school leaving age in England and Wales
In 1944, Rab Butler introduced the Education Act 1944 which amongst other changes, including the introduction of the Tripartite System, included raising the school leaving age to 15. Although the act should have been brought into effect as from September 1939, it was not implemented because of the effects of World War II, but was eventually enforced from April 1947. The comprehensive school system has since replaced the Tripartite System brought in by this act across most of England. This act also recommended compulsory part-time education for all children until the age of 18, but was dropped, in similar fashion to the 1918 Act, to cut spending after World War II.