ER report on NCLB slowing down student achievement

Educational Researcher published a report saying that NCLB has actually slowed the rate of student achievement. ER uses NAEP results almost exclusively. Several blogs picked up this story, and it made the front page of popular website digg.com

The researchers pushed beyond earlier studies by tracking progress in both state and federal test scores in 12 diverse states, going back to 1992 in many cases. This approach captured the generally positive effects of maturing state-led accountability programs in both reading and math, gauged by state officials and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Using this longer time span as the baseline, annual changes in student performance generally slowed after 2002, as gauged by state and federal testing agencies, and the earlier narrowing of achievement gaps ground to a halt (NAEP results), according to the study.