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).
WestEd
WestEd was formed in 1995 when the Southwest Regional Educational Laboratory (SWRL), located in Los Alamitos, California, merged with the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development (FWL), located in San Francisco. SWRL and FWL were established in 1966, shortly after the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (Pub.L. 89-10, 79 Stat. 27, 20 U.S.C. ch.70), a United States federal statute enacted April 11, 1965. The Act funded several areas of primary and secondary education including professional development, instructional materials, resources to support educational programs, and parental involvement promotion. FWL and SWRL were established under ESEA (1965) Title IV, which established funding for educational research and training.