The federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation aims to achieve the national goal of ensuring that every child meets rigorous standards of academic achievement. In particular, California is challenged to meet the NCLB requirement that by 2005-2006, all teachers be "highly qualified," meaning they must have a bachelor's degree, state certification (or be working towards a credential through an alternative route certification program), and have demonstrated knowledge in each subject they teach. In compliance with NCLB, California has adopted new regulations for teacher quality. Specifically, only teachers with full credentials or intern certificates/credentials will be considered "highly qualified."