Standards-Based Reform and the Poverty Gap: Lessons for No Child Left Behind

Education Next, Spring, 2008

Standards-Based Reform and the Poverty Gap: Lessons for No Child Left Behind. Adam Gamoran, editor (Brookings Institution Press).

This conference volume has an identity crisis. Its marketers clearly want to ride the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) wave, but at least half of the book (the more interesting half!) is only marginally related to the federal law. Consider Meredith Phillips and Jennifer Flashman's examination of standards-based reform in the 1990s, which finds evidence that testing and accountability can change teacher behavior in positive ways. Or look at the dandy of a chapter by Thomas Dee and Brian Jacob, which studied the impact of high school exit exams--not required by NCLB--on various student outcomes, including college completion and future earnings. Their bottom line: these tests, by and large, depress high school graduation rates while failing to predict success in college or work. Still, the effort provides at least a few morsels for the NCLB-obsessed. Tom Loveless pens a provocative piece on the politics of the federal law, finding support for NLCB strongest among minorities and the middle class. It's a worthwhile read, just not cover to cover.

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