While most Americans have heard of the No Child Left Behind Act, nearly seven in 10 say they don’t know enough to form an opinion. A double-digit "don’t know" response is considered by survey researchers to be a classic warning sign that an issue may not be well understood and public attitudes may not be stable. Even so, a majority of Americans say the law will improve education. Furthermore, three-quarters of voters say schools will need more money to implement the act and that the federal government should be responsible for providing additional funding. Since very few of the general public has firsthand experience with how the required measures would actually work in the nation’s schools, poll results on this topic should be reported with caution. On the other hand, there are the nation’s school leaders - superintendents and principals - who are largely responsible for implementing NCLB. In our research study, Rolling Up Their Sleeves, we found majorities of superintendents and principals say the law needs some fine tuning before it can work. (For more information about the specifics of the No Child Left Behind Act visit the U.S. Department of Education official NCLB site. Also, you can read our report Where We Are Now: 12 Things You Need to Know about Public Opinion and Public Schools.)

A majority of school administrators say the No Child Left Behind Act will require adjustments before it can work