"No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) dictates students in Grades 3, 5, and 8 pass state tests to be promoted. Accordingly, most state education codes require students to pass reading and math exams for promotion. The majority of those who fail, however, appear to be promoted anyway. This article addresses core questions concerning the paradigm…

Although schools have always struggled with student failure, retention, and attrition, the turn of the new century has produced added pressures for schools to reduce student dropout rates. In the current political and economic environment, increased costs and reduced budgets are forcing difficult choices in how best to spend limited resources.…

An education gap between white students and their black and Hispanic peers is something to which most Americans have become accustomed. But this racial division of education--and hence of prospects for the future--is nothing less than tragic. The good news is that the racial divide in learning is a problem that can be fixed. Of course, it can only…

The reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) makes this a good time to consider whether and how current accountability serves the public interest and whether and how it can better do so. This report explores these issues in the context of the current literature on the effects of accountability in K-12 education. It considers the meaning…

With the No Child Left Behind federal mandate, teachers and school administrators are challenged to provide the best instruction possible in mathematics and reading. Students are required to take the state mandated tests in grades three through eight and in grade ten. The stakes are high in that students may not be passed on to the next higher…