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 * Benchmark Name:** The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA)


 * Basic Summary of Benchmark:** The ESEA was the first and largest educational act that gave substantial amount of funding for kindergarten through twelfth grade education. The main purpose of this act was to collect necessary resources that would help disadvantaged children receive proper public education. The ESEA funds were used to help educators’ professional development, instructional materials, resources to support educational programs, and parental involvement promotion. With the funds from the ESEA many educational programs were created that were essential for students and public education. These programs discussed and helped certain issues in the educational system such as: Title I (which concentrated on disadvantaged students and having them meet high educational standards), The Eisenhower Professional Development Program (focused on teachers and their professional growth), Education Technology, Class Size Reduction, Safe and Drug Free Schools, Bilingual Education, Native American Education, Charter Schools, Head Start, and Community Learning Centers.


 * Key Manifestations:** Ever since it has been created The ESEA has been reauthorized every five years. Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 was the reauthorized version of the ESEA and was a huge part in the Clinton administration. However the ESEA was renamed and signed by President George W. Bush as the No Child Left behind Act of 2001.


 * Key Personnel:** The ESEA was designed by Francis Keppel, President Johnson’s Commissioner of Education and President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted the Elementary and Secondary Act in 1965.


 * Why/How a Benchmark?** The ESEA is a huge benchmark for education because it has caused such an impact in the education system. Many of the educational acts that manifested from the ESEA are still huge contributors to education today. Acts such as Individuals with Disabilites Education Act, the Bilingual Education Act, and the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, might not have ever been created without the ideas and funds from the ESEA. The ESEA really discussed the needs of the students, the parents, and the teachers and outlined the necessary funds and steps that the educational system needed to take in order to ensure that every child received proper education.