No Child Left Behind Impact Study

A study shows that pressuring schools to raise test scores under parts of the No Child Left Behind Act resulted in only modest student achievement gains in math and reading. The study shows that students with disabilities, English-language learners and those who began at the lowest performance levels benefited the most from NCLB.
Wong,  V./ et al. (2018). The impact of intensifying state accountability pressures on student achievement under No Child Left Behind. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia.
http://curry.virginia.edu/uploads/epw/63_Intensifying_State_Accountability_Pressures.pdf

California elementary achievement

California elementaries not on track to meet AYP targets in 2014
California elementary schools on average have boosted student proficiency by less than 4 percentage points annually since 2003, indicating that few will meet adequate yearly progress this year as the state requires a 11 percentage-point jump in proficiency rates, according to research led by a professor at the University of California, Riverside. "We're hitting a balloon payment scenario, to use a housing analogy, where the expectations set forth in the federal law are far higher than recent performance levels."
Bryant, M., et al. (2008, Sept. 26). ASSESSMENT: School Performance Will Fail to Meet Legislated Benchmarks. Science, 1781-1782

Academic profess reoprt

Elementary, Middle School Kids Make Gains
U. S. students are doing better in elementary school and middle school, but key indicators show little progress among high school and college students, according to a recent report. Last year, tests showed 33% could read and do math at grade level, compared with 25% in 2000, according to Education Department data. Minority students are doing better, too. The percentage of black and Hispanic students who could read and do math at grade level was 35% that of white children last year, the department found. But that has increased from 23% in 2000.
U. S. Dept. of Education. (2008). Indicators to Track Nation's Education Progress. Washington, DC: Author.
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/results/trends/indicators.html

Reading First study

Federal Study Shows Reading First Program Not Showing Significant Success in Test Scores
Created under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the Reading First program provides assistance to states and districts in using research-based reading programs and instructional materials for K-3 students.
Institute of Education Sciences. (2008). Reading First impact study: Interim report. Washington, DC: Author.
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pdf/20084016.pdf

NCLB and top students report

Top Students Said to Stagnate Under NCLB
A new NCLB report finds that teachers shift attention toward low-performing students rather than achievement for all students. The report draws on national test-score data and results from a nationwide survey of 900 public school teachers in grades 3-12 to paint a portrait of a generation of high achievers left to fend for themselves as schools and teachers shift their time and resources toward educational strategies aimed more at bringing the bottom up than on raising achievement for all children.
The data show, for instance, that from 2000 to 2007, the scores of the top 10 percent of students essentially held steady on National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in reading and math. The scores for the bottom 10 percent of students, meanwhile, rose by 18 points on the 4th grade reading test and 13 points in 8th grade math—the equivalent of about a year’s worth of learning.
Thomas Fordham Foundation. (2008). High-Achieving Students in the Era of NCLB. Washington, DC: Author.
http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/20080618_high_achievers.pdf

California NCLB report

Only 5% of California schools restructured successfully last year
Just 33 of the more than 700 California schools that were in NCLB restructuring during the 2006-07 school year improved their performance sufficiently to be granted a change in status, according to the Center on Education Policy. "Federal restructuring strategies have very rarely helped schools improve student achievement enough to ... exit restructuring," the report concludes. "Our findings in California point to the need to rethink restructuring across the nation."
Center on Education Policy. (2008). Managing More Than a Thousand Remodeling Projects. Washington, DC: Author.
http://www.cep-dc.org/_data/n_0001/resources/live/CARestructuringFeb2008.pdf

School violence study

Report: Schools underreporting violence
Widespread underreporting of violent incidents is undermining the NCLB provision to identify "persistently dangerous schools," according to an audit by the U.S. Education Department's inspector general. Only 46 U.S. schools carried this designation in the past school year.

NCLB Standards study

States lowering standards to meet NCLB goals
States that have set very low definitions of proficiency may be the only ones that meet the NCLB's requirement that all students test proficiently by 2014, some educators say. As more states realize this, some states that have set especially lofty achievement goals, such as California and South Carolina, are lowering their standards, according to a study.
Fordham Institute. (2007). The proficiency illusion. Washington, DC: Author.
http://edexcellence.net/institute/publication/publication.cfm?id=376

Tutoring study

Study: Tutoring paying off for some students
NCLB tutoring in reading and math is paying off in some urban schools, according to a new Rand study conducted for the U.S. Department of Education, with tutored students in five of nine large urban districts showing improvement.
Rand Corporation. (2007). School Choice, Supplemental Educational Services, and Student Achievement. Santa Monica, CA: Author. http://www.rand.org/pubs/reprints/RP1265/

NCLB studies

Study: NCLB impacting classroom focus
According to a study from the Center on Education Policy, a significant number of school districts nationwide have reduced the amount of classroom time spent on subjects that are subject to testing under No Child Left Behind. The report indicates that schools are focusing more on reading and math at the expense of social studies, science and other subjects.
Center on Education Policy. (2005). From the Capital to the Classroom: Year 3 of the No Child Left Behind Act. http://hub.mspnet.org/exit.cfm/cep_nclby3_21Mar2005.pdf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecep%2Ddc%2Eorg%2Fpubs%2Fnclby3%2Fpress%2Fcep%2Dnclby3%5F21Mar2005%2Epdf

Study: Scores increasing since NCLB implementation
Student scores on state math and reading tests have improved, and the achievement gap between black and white students has narrowed somewhat since 2002, the year NCLB was implemented, but it isn't possible to determine whether NCLB was responsible.
Center on Education Policy. (2007). Answering the Question That Matters Most: Has Student Achievement Increased Since No Child Left Behind? Washington, DC: Center on Educational Policy. http://www.cep-dc.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=480

Study: NCLB may not be working on the margins
Under NCLB, students in the middle have made the largest gains, while gifted students stagnate and the bottom 20% may even lose ground, according to a new University of Chicago study. Neal, D., & Schanzenbach, D. (2007). Left behind by design. http://www.aei.org/docLib/20070716_NealSchanzenbachPaper.pdf

NCLB Studies

Report: Some failing schools taking no action
Even after failing NCLB targets for five consecutive years, at least 6% of schools have made no major changes as the law requires. A Government Accountability Office report says the Department of Education fails to monitor whether states are requiring such restructuring. Education Week (9/10)

Report: NCLB failing good students
Some 3.4 million high-achieving children from disadvantaged backgrounds are falling behind, according to a new Civic Enterprises and Jack Kent Cooke Foundation study. The foundation's executive vice president urged lawmakers to broaden NCLB so that schools teach higher achievers as intensely as those struggling for proficiency.
Education Week (9/10)