Signed into law, January 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), included a new way of identifying schools.     States are required to label and provide an option out of schools that are “persistently dangerous.”  Students who are victims of violent crimes must be offered an individual option to transfer to another school.      Parents will have be offered the option to move their children from a school labeled “persistently dangerous” beginning with 2003-2004 school year.  This transfer option is supposed to allow students to move to another school within the district boundaries, including charter schools.  If another school cannot be found in the same district, there no clear options.

There are many implications of labeling a school as “persistently dangerous” and the community should play an important role in policy development, implementation and evaluation as each state meets federal guidelines.

  Some issues raised by labeling are: 1) encouraging schools to under and non-report criminal offenses;  2) labeling as creating a new stereotype; 3) labeling without option; and 4) labeling the community and potentially Opportunities will also be addressed.        This session or poster will cover the basics of the “persistently dangerous” provision of No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; provide discussion about the pros and cons of the this provision; and explore the role of the community in participating in state policy development, local reactions to implementation and evaluating the impact of this provision.