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).
No Child Left Inside (movement)
Several states, including Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin, endorsed the movement by creating programs in local parks and schools that addressed the concern of children's disconnect with nature during the 2000s. A federal bill, the No Child Left Inside Act of 2009, was introduced in the House of Representatives on April 22, 2009 (Earth Day) by representative John P. Sarbanes (Democrat, MD-3), with 82 co-sponsors, as H.R.2054  and referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor. A similar measure, the "No Child Left Inside Act of 2008" (H.R. 3036 , 110th Congress) was passed by the House of Representatives on September 18, 2008, but was never voted on in the Senate.
The bill was introduced in the Senate as S.866 by senator Jack Reed (Democrat, Rhode Island) with 17 co-sponsors and was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. On June 4, 2009, the bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education. The main goal of the proposed legislation is to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind Act) of 2001 under the Bush Administration with environmental education.