Abstract :
The law titled No Child Left Behind (NCLB), passed by U.S. Congress in
2001, offers a striking instance of high-stakes educational testing functioning as de
facto language policy. Although NCLB is an education policy meant for all students
attending government-supported schools in the United States, one of its many
consequences is that it has generated numerous language policy by-products in
schools, particularly due to its high-stakes testing requirements.1 This article
describes how NCLB is shaping language policies in educational contexts, and the
overall effects it is having on English language learners (or ELLs, the term currently
used in the United States to describe language minority students receiving language
support services in school as they acquire English).
