No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires states to track K-12 student performance and to meet benchmarks for improving the lowest-scoring students with the goal of narrowing and eventually eliminating the achievement gap. Implementation of NCLB has changed the delivery of education in the United States. Understanding the full extent of its impact, as well as its strengths and weaknesses, however, is more difficult to ascertain.

In 2009, NCPI partnered with the Urban Institute’s National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) to host a conference, “NCLB: Emerging Findings.” Among the specific issues discussed were state implementation of NCLB and its impact on student achievement, teacher distribution and quality, the teaching of subjects not covered by NCLB, and accountability and testing. The conference was attended by nearly 170 policymakers, scholars, school administrators, and members of the press.

To learn more about this conference, please click here.