No Child Left Behind: The Politics and Practice of School Accountability

(Paperback)

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Description

The 2002 No Child Left Behind Act is the most important legislation in American education since the 1960s. The law requires states to put into place a set of standards, together with a comprehensive testing plan designed to ensure these standards are met. Students at schools that fail to meet those standards may leave for other schools, and schools not progressing adequately become subject to reorganization. Its significance lies less in federal dollar contributions than in the direction it gives to school spending. It helps codify the movement toward common standards and school accountability. As the first scholarly assessment of the new legislation, this book cuts new ground in the ongoing debate over accountability. The distingushed contributors examine the law's origins, the politics surrounding its implementation, and its likely consequences for American education.

Reviews

"...a revealing indication of how accountability, rather than markets, has become the current mantra." Michael Duffy, The Times Educational Supplement, 3/5/2004

"... details how the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) changed from inception to signing, reviews its effects thus far, and forecasts its effects in the future.... The authors' critiques and cautions can serve as a guide for those involved in developing or implementing accountability systems." Elizabeth Edgemon, University of Virginia, American School Board Journal, 8/1/2004

Author Bio

Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government at Harvard, the director of PEPG, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is author or editor of numerous books, including The Education Gap: Vouchers and Urban Schools, with William G. Howell (Brookings, 2004 and 2006). Martin R. West is an assistant professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and deputy director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG) at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He was formerly a guest scholar in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.