NCLB Research Reports

Arizona State University
Ending the Blame Game on Educational Inequity: A Study of "High Flying" Schools and NCLB
Education Policy Studies Laboratory, Education Policy Research Unit
March 2006
"Recent policy studies by the Education Trust and Heritage Foundation have tried to identify "high-flying" schools- schools that help students reach very high levels of achievement, despite significant disadvantages. This policy brief demonstrates three major problems with the findings of these reports."

High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Problems for the No Child Left Behind Act
Education Policy Studies Laboratory, Education Policy Research Unit
September 2005
"Under the Federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, standardized test scores are the indicator used to hold schools and school districts accountable for student achievement. Each state is responsible for constructing an accountability system, attaching consequences-or stakes- for student performance. The theory of action implied by this accountability program is that the pressure of high-stakes testing will increase student achievement. But this study finds that pressure created by high-stakes testing has had almost no important influence on student academic performance."

High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Problems for the New Child Left Behind Act
Education Policy Research Unit(EPRU)
September 2005
Under NCLB testing scores are used as an indicator to hold schools responsible, done through Adequate Yearly Progress(AYP) tests. This report looks at and tests what the Arizona Institute calls "the theory of action" around NCLB AYPs. NCLB claims that the pressure of high stakes testing will increase student achievement, the Arizona Institute finds the theory through this report to be false.