Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In 2001 the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act was signed into law, which aimed to close the achievement gap that has historically existed in the United States based along racial and socio-economic lines. Almost fifteen years after this unprecedented legislation, and with reiterations and further federal intrusions such as ‘Race to the Top’ and the ‘Common Core Initiative’ into the previously state-sponsored education policy-arena, what affects have there been on the achievement gap? Using National Center of Education Statistics data, this study looks at the past decade-and-a-half of student achievement data in all 50 states and explores how the policy making process has been influenced by feedback from the early implementation and evaluation efforts of NCLB as well as at the overall success of national policy initiatives to close the achievement gap.