No Remedy Left Behind: Lessons from a Half-Decade of NCLB

Summary: As the reauthorization of the nationOs seminal education law_the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)_rapidly approaches, a team of respected education scholars and analysts assess how NCLBOs interventions for poorly-performing schools are actually working. Editors Frederick M. Hess of the American Enterprise Institute and Chester E. Finn Jr. of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation pull no punches. In No Remedy Left Behind, s...eventeen education experts rigorously assess_across the nationOs states and school districts_the lawOs public school choice requirement (which offers students enrolled in schools in need of improvement the opportunity to attend another school), its complex supplemental educational services provision (that is, free tutoring services offered to low-income students who attend failing schools), and its controversial OrestructuringO mandate (which forces low-performing schools to plan and implement significant reforms). Throughout the volume, contributors inform us whether big-city school districts are complying with the law, whether low-performing schools are informing parents of their options, and whether reported problems are due to flawed federal implementation or a fundamentally flawed statute. [read more]