Has NCLB Helped Student Achievement?

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By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 6/30/2008 2:05:00 PM

Has the No Child Left Behind Act helped to boost student achievement? According to a new report, student statewide reading and math scores have in fact risen and achievement gaps between various groups of students have also narrowed since NCLB went into effect.

The report, “Has Student Achievement Increased Since 2002?: State Test Score Trends Through 2006-07,” is a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of state test scores since the education reform law was passed in 2002.

The study, by the nonprofit group Center on Education Policy (CEP), analyzed testing data from all 50 states, as well as trends through 2007 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the only federally administered assessment of reading and math.

What did it find? Among the states with sufficient data, 21 states made moderate-to-large gains in elementary math, 22 states showed gains in middle school, and 12 states posted such gains for high school. In reading, 17 states had moderate-to-large gains at the elementary level, while 14 states made such gains for middle school, and eight states showed gains for high school.

In addition, achievement gaps have also narrowed more often than widened on state tests and NAEP, except for eighth grade math, says the report.

However, it is impossible to “determine the extent to which these trends in test results have occurred because of NCLB,” the report says, because since 2002, many different but interconnected policies and programs have been undertaken to raise achievement and close achievement gaps—some initiated by states or school districts on their own, and some in response to federal requirements.

Other possible explanations for increased test scores and narrowed gaps include districts and schools devoting more instructional time to reading and math, and students and teachers becoming more familiar with the content and format of state tests.

“Through NCLB and many state and local efforts, the nation has sought to raise test scores and to narrow the achievement gap. These results show that we are making progress, although much more work needs to be done,” says Jack Jennings, president and chief executive officer of CEP. The reports and other information from CEP are available online.