Elementary and Secondary Education Act
The act was originally authorized through 1965; however, the government has reauthorized the act several times since its enactment—often well after the expiration of the previous reauthorization. The reauthorization of ESEA by President George W. Bush was known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. ESEA was reauthorized on December 10, 2015 as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) by President Barack Obama.
Social history of the United Kingdom (1945–present)
The Education Act 1944 was an answer to surging social and educational demands created by the war and the widespread demands for social reform that approached utopianism. It was prepared by Conservative MP Rab Butler after wide consultation. The Act took effect in 1947 and created the modern split between primary education and secondary education at the age of eleven years. The newly-elected Labour government adopted the Tripartite System, consisting of grammar schools, secondary modern schools and secondary technical schools, rejecting the comprehensive school proposals favoured by many in the Labour Party as more equalitarian. Under the tripartite model, students who passed an exam were able to attend a prestigious grammar school. Those who did not pass the selection test attended secondary modern schools, or technical schools. The school leaving age was raised to fifteen years. The elite system of public schools was practically unchanged. The new law was widely praised by the Conservatives because it honoured religion and social hierarchy, and by Labour because it opened new opportunities for the working-class, and also by the general public; because it ended the fees they previously had to pay. The Education Act became a permanent part of the Post-war consensus supported by the three major political parties.