• States must track dropouts, along with graduates and transfers, using the same reporting system. They currently use a hodgepodge of methods that make it hard to compare states, and the National Governors Association has recommended a uniform tracking system.

• Schools, starting with the 2011-12 school year, must meet graduation targets for minority groups and students with disabilities, as well as for the overall student population, to satisfy the yearly progress requirements of No Child Left Behind. Schools that don't meet yearly goals for every group of students face consequences, such as having to pay for tutoring or replace principals.

• States and districts must include the most recent national testing data on state and district report cards.

• Schools that are being restructured under No Child Left Behind must use interventions that are "significantly more rigorous and comprehensive" than the interventions that the schools have tried under previous sanctions, and districts must implement interventions that address the reasons why a school is in the restructuring phase in the first place.

• Parents whose children are eligible to transfer from an under-performing school to one that is meeting its annual progress goals must be notified by the district about available options as far in advance as possible, but no later than 14 days before the start of the school year.

• Parents whose children are eligible for free tutoring must be notified "in a manner that is clear and concise, as well as clearly distinguishable from other school-related information that parents receive."

Source: U.S. Department of Education