The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education. The Act required states to develop assessments in basic skills. To receive federal school funding, states had to give these assessments to all students at select grade levels.

The act did not assert a national achievement standardeach state developed its own standards. NCLB expanded the federal role in public education through further emphasis on annual testing, annual academic progress, report cards, and teacher qualifications, as well as significant changes in funding.While the bill faced challenges from both Democrats and Republicans, it passed in both chambers of the legislature with significant bipartisan support. By 2015, bipartisan criticism had accumulated so much that a bipartisan Congress stripped away the national features of No Child Left Behind. Its replacement, the Every Student Succeeds Act, turned the remnants over to the states.

George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and Republican Party, he previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

While in his twenties, Bush flew warplanes in the Texas Air National Guard. After graduating from Harvard Business School in 1975, he worked in the oil industry. In 1978, Bush unsuccessfully ran for the House of Representatives. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before he was elected governor of Texas in 1994. As governor, Bush successfully sponsored legislation for tort reform, increased education funding, set higher standards for schools, and reformed the criminal justice system. He also helped make Texas the leading producer of wind powered electricity in the nation. In the 2000 presidential election, Bush defeated Democratic incumbent Vice President Al Gore after a narrow and contested win that involved a Supreme Court decision to stop a recount in Florida. He became the fourth person to be elected president without a popular vote victory.

Upon taking office, Bush signed a major tax cut program and education reform bill, the No Child Left Behind Act. He pushed for socially conservative efforts such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and faith-based initiatives. A decisive event that reshaped his administration was the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, resulting in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and war on terror. Bush ordered an invasion of Afghanistan, beginning the War in Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, destroy al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. He signed the Patriot Act in order to authorize surveillance of suspected terrorists. In 2003, Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq which began the Iraq War, falsely arguing that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. Bush also signed the Medicare Modernization Act, creating Medicare Part D and funding for PEPFAR.

Bush was re-elected president in 2004, defeating Democrat John Kerry. During his second term, Bush reached multiple free trade agreements. He appointed John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. He sought major changes to Social Security and immigration laws, but both efforts failed in Congress. Bush was widely criticized for his handling of Hurricane Katrina and the midterm dismissal of U.S. attorneys. In the midst of his unpopularity, the Democrats regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections. The Afghanistan and Iraq wars continued, and in January 2007 Bush launched a surge of troops in Iraq. By December, the U.S. entered the Great Recession, prompting the Bush administration to obtain congressional approval for multiple economic programs intended to preserve the country's financial system, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

After finishing his second term, Bush returned to Texas, where his presidential library opened in 2013. He was among the most popular and unpopular presidents in U.S. history, having received the highest recorded approval ratings in the wake of the September 11 attacks, but one of the lowest such ratings during the 2007–2008 financial crisis. Bush's presidency has been rated as below-average, although public and scholarly favorability of his presidency have improved since he left office.