Over the past few decades, concerns have escalated about the quality of education in the U.S. for students in the middle grades. Children entering adolescence have unique educational, social, and emotional needs. How effectively the nation is educating these students has long been a topic of research and debate. This study by the Center on…

In recent years, scores on the annual state reading and mathematics tests used for accountability have gone up in most states. These trends in state test scores do not always coincide, however, with trends on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the federally sponsored assessment that is administered periodically to…

This report examines the interim objectives for student achievement established by states in their accountability plans for the No Child Left Behind Act. These objectives lay out the percentages of students that must score at or above the proficient level on state tests each year, on the way toward meeting the law's ultimate goal of 100% of…

This report compares state math and reading proficiency scores in grades 4 and 8 to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) basic scores for the period of 2005 to 2009. The study found that scores on state tests and NAEP have increased in most states with sufficient data. Also included with the report are profiles for the 23 states that…

The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) holds schools, districts, and states accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students, including the nearly 14% of public school students who receive special education services because they have an identified disability. By 2014, 100% of students with disabilities are expected to…

This report by the Center on Education Policy (CEP), an independent nonprofit organization, examines progress in raising achievement for English language learners. It also describes the factors that make it difficult to accurately assess what ELLs know and can do. The data for this analysis were collected by CEP with technical support from the…

This report is the first in a series of reports describing results from the Center on Education Policy's (CEP's) third annual analysis of state testing data. The report provides an update on student performance at the proficient level of achievement, and for the first time, includes data about student performance at the advanced and basic levels.…

Many in the research and policy worlds have taken for granted the existence of a phenomenon known as the "plateau effect," wherein test scores rise in the early years of a test-based accountability system and then level off. Drawing from our database of reading and math test results from all 50 states going back as far as 1999, the…

After eight years of implementing the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and other school reforms, how much progress have states, school districts, and schools made in raising achievement for students from all backgrounds and closing achievement gaps based on race, ethnicity, income, and gender? To help answer this question, the Center on…

This report describes findings from the second year of the most comprehensive, intensive, and carefully constructed study to date of trends in student achievement in all 50 states since 2002, the year the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was enacted. Last year, the Center on Education Policy (CEP), an independent nonprofit organization, began this…

Since 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has spurred far-reaching changes in elementary and secondary education, all aimed at accomplishing the same fundamental goal--to improve students' academic achievement. As the Congress prepares to reauthorize the Act, two related questions matter most: (1) Has student achievement in reading and…

A main goal of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is to close gaps in test scores between different groups of students while raising achievement for all groups. Of particular concern are the persistent achievement gaps between African American, Latino, and Native American students and their white and Asian counterparts, and between students from…