The Echo

Okay, I happen to feel that NCLB was another calamatous failure of the Bush Administration.  But, hey, I can give credit where due.  The latest observations released show that Math scores improved under NCLB for fourth and eighth graders.  That's fantastic, if American students never have a need to figure out word problems.  Did I mention that the same study failed to find that NCLB improved reading scores?

Yes, I know that I sound a bit cynical here.  And there are some that would argue I shouldn't.  But, NCLB has created such frustration for so many.  Talk about unfunded mandates.  The credit is not due to NCLB but to every state, school district, and teacher that found a way to incorporate the requirements of the act without the appropriate funding to do so. 

Go HERE for an evaluation of the study by Edweek.org

Here's the abstract with link to source:
Thomas Dee, Brian Jacob
NBER Working Paper No. 15531
Issued in November 2009
NBER Program(s): CH ED LS PE

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act compelled states to design school-accountability systems based on annual student assessments. The effect of this Federal legislation on the distribution of student achievement is a highly controversial but centrally important question. This study presents evidence on whether NCLB has influenced student achievement based on an analysis of state-level panel data on student test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The impact of NCLB is identified using a comparative interrupted time series analysis that relies on comparisons of the test-score changes across states that already had school-accountability policies in place prior to NCLB and those that did not. Our results indicate that NCLB generated statistically significant increases in the average math performance of 4th graders (effect size = 0.22 by 2007) as well as improvements at the lower and top percentiles. There is also evidence of improvements in 8th grade math achievement, particularly among traditionally low-achieving groups and at the lower percentiles. However, we find no evidence that NCLB increased reading achievement in either 4th or 8th grade.
You may purchase this paper on-line in .pdf format from SSRN.com ($5) for electronic delivery.