Is 'No Child Left Behind' Working?

NCLB watchdog Jack Jennings of the Center on Education Policy. (Photo by Danuta Otfinowski for Live & Learn.)

CEP on NCLB in 2007

In assessing data on No Child Left Behind's impact, Jennings summed up the major findings of the June, 2007 report, available at CEP-DC.org:

1. In most states with three or more years of comparable test data, student achievement in reading and math has gone up since 2002, the year NCLB was enacted.

2. There is more evidence of achievement gaps between groups of students narrowing since 2002 than of gaps widening. Still, the magnitude of the gaps is often substantial.

3. In 9 of the 13 states with sufficient data to determine pre- and post-NCLB trends, average yearly gains in test scores were greater after NCLB took effect than before.

4. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to determine the extent to which these trends in test results have occurred because of NCLB.

Since 2002, states, school districts, and schools have simultaneously implemented many different but interconnected policies to raise achievement.

5. Although NCLB emphasizes public reporting of state test data, the data necessary to reach definitive conclusions about achievement were sometimes hard to find or unavailable, or had holes or discrepancies.

Watch and listen to Jennings testimony on "NCLB Flexibility" in 2007 Congressional hearings chaired by Dale Kildee (D-MI), now available on YouTube.

A 2008 UPDATE, looking at student achievement from 2002-2007, has been issued by CEP as of July 15, 2008 and is available in the form of a downloadable pdf.