The Effectiveness of No Child Left Behind
Abstract
In 2002 a new law was enacted that changed the education system of America, No Child
Left Behind (NCLB). NCLB sets standards for every student and school district across the
nation requiring that each student reach a proficient level of mathematical performance by the
2013-14 school year. Whether the student is from a rich community or poor community, that
student must be at the same level in mathematical assessment. Students who are classified as
disabled are also included in this legislation. Since NCLB was enacted, teachers across the
nation had complained about the expectations this law set for their students. The United States
Department of Education indicated their expectations are more realistic than what teachers
believe it to be. This notion is based on the information they collected through the National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAEP is a national test that is offered in each
state, but many schools decided not to use the NAEP and used their own alternate state
assessment instead. For example, Wisconsin is a state where every school district does not
administer the NAEP. Most school districts used the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts
Examination (WKCE), a test that all 4th, 8th, and 10th grade students took before the Common
Core State Standards came into effect in 2014 and changed the testing system used in Wisconsin.
This study investigated Wisconsin state assessment data for mathematics gathered by the
WKCE tests for grades 4th, 8th, and 10th for the 1997-99 school year through the 2013-14 school
year. The data collected was taken from the Department of Public Education public site.
Student participants were grouped into different categories to compare over time to see if there
were any noticeable significant differences. These groups include gender, ethnicity, and
disability both at an urban district level and the state level. Data was statistically analyzed
through multiple one-tailed t-tests assuming equal variances at a .05 level of significance.
The results from the first set of hypotheses, which compared the state of Wisconsin to a
large urban district, concluded that the NCLB statute had no significant impact on student
achievement in mathematics when using beginning year scores compared to ending year scores
for consecutive testing years were compared for grade levels 4, 8, and 10. However, the study
did reveal student achievement in the urban district was significantly less compared to student
achievement in the state of Wisconsin.
The results from the second set of hypotheses, which compared gender performance in
mathematics, concluded that the NCLB statute had no significant impact on closing the gender
gap between males and females. In the state of Wisconsin, it was found that there is a significant
gender gap in grade levels 4, 8, and 10 in mathematics where males outperformed females.
However, the study did reveal that a significant gender gap only existed in grade level 10 for the
urban school district in mathematics. The lower grade levels showed no indication of a gender
gap in the urban district.
The results from the third set of hypotheses, which compared ethnic performance in
mathematics, concluded that the NCLB statute had no significant impact on closing the
achievement gap between white, black, and Hispanic students. In both the state of Wisconsin
and the urban district, there was a significant achievement gap between white students and their
black and Hispanic peers. Also, Hispanic students showed significant achievement gains when
compared to their black peers, where Hispanic students outperformed the black students.
The results from the fourth set of hypotheses, which compared disabled students to nondisabled
students performance in mathematics, concluded that the NCLB statute had no
significant impact on closing the achievement gap between disabled and non-disabled students.
Disabled students performed significantly lower than their non-disabled peers.
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