The Federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education reform law (which wassigned into law January 8, 2002) ties federal aid for the schools to the school systemmeeting academic standards and adhering to policies set by the federal government.

Prepare a report for your Congressperson in the U.S. House of Representatives in whichyou

• discuss the impact of this legislation on your local school system,

• present your recommendation for what should or needs to be done, AND

• detail a direct request for some specified action.

To find out who your representative is, go to http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/and follow the directions.

Use information available at:

• US Department of Education NCLB http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml

• Education Commission of the States (a nonprofit and nonpartisan organizationwith the mission to facilitate the sharing of education information among thestates) http://www.ecs.org/ (search NCLB),

• The American Federation of Teachers (the teachers’ union) http://www.aft.org/(search NCLB)

• The National Education Association (a volunteer-based organization, heavilyinvolved with lobbying at both the state and federal level)http://www.nea.org/home/NoChildLeftBehindAct.html

• or other information to substantiate your analysis.

Some FAQs about the Formal Report:How long should it be?To cover the assignment, you should plan on needing 4-6 pages of text. This is reallynot very long if you include pictures and graphics in your report (strongly encouraged).

What format should be used?

Typically use one-inch margins all around, single-spaced. Use the reference material in theappendices located in the back of the textbook for guidance regarding format. Pages needto be numbered (note the conventions for prefatory pages) and can go either at the bottomor top of the page. Use a font size of between 10 and 12 for the text. Use headers!!

Why is it single-spaced?

Increasingly readers are reading documents online or at least on a computer screen. Singlespaced is standard business format. Double-spaced is not as easy to read. Remember, theidea is to make the document accessible so the reader reads it! Reader accessibility is alsowhy this report needs to be a single document and not assorted pieces.

How do I cite materials?

The standard for business is APA format. Use the reference material in the appendiceslocated in the back of the textbook for in-text citation and list of reference formats. Goodonline sources for citing Internet materials in APA format can be found at APAStyle.org(http://apastyle.apa.org).

My Turnitin Originality Report says I have not properly cited some of my sources and Iknow that I have!

Most of the time you can see if you have a citation problem or if Turnitin’s decisionmaking algorithm flagged something that is, in fact, properly cited. If you are unsure,contact your instructor to decide what needs to be done.