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).
Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
State and federal funding, however, is funneled through RIDE as the State Education Agency (SEA). RIDE provides funding to LEAs on a per pupil basis, as determined by the state’s funding formula. As the SEA, RIDE is also responsible for school accountability, as required under federal law, the most recent iteration being the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 10, 2015.