No Child Left Behind? The Politics and Practices of School Accountability - Book Alert

Education Next, Spring, 2004

No Child Left Behind? The Politics and Practices of School Accountability, edited by Paul E. Peterson and Martin R. West (Brookings). The extensive accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have provoked much cheer-leading and hand-wringing, but not much reasoned analysis. This edited collection, which pulls together a series of studies first presented at Harvard University, is a welcome contribution to the conversation about NCLB. The studies focus on the national politics of accountability; state, local, and international evidence regarding the effects of high-stakes accountability; and topics such as charter school performance and the consequences of disaggregating data by students' race and ethnicity. The overall thesis is that political pressures are likely to soften the harsher edges of NCLB, but that even temperate accountability is likely to be beneficial.

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