This paper examines and critiques the accountability movement, high-stakes testing, and their relationship to the achievement gap. Analyzing the issues in the context of Texas, the paper discusses dropout rates that were incorrectly identified and reported, the role of courts and specific court cases in high-stakes testing, ethical considerations,…

This review examines four books that may offer some insight into what the discussion about educational policy, reform, and performance may look like after the era of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Collectively, "The Allure of Order: High Hopes, Dashed Expectations, and the Troubled Quest to Remake American Schooling" by Jal Mehta,…

The main goal of this social policy report is to propose a holistic approach for promoting developmental success among Latinx children and youth. This report highlights the need to 1) redefine success and 2) account for intersectional inequalities. First, the current demographic landscape of Latinx students is presented to showcase the variability…

In this essay, Brian D. Lozenski explores why Gloria Ladson-Billings's 2006 pronouncement of the nation's "education debt," as opposed to "achievement gap," has not gained traction in the national discourse around educational disparity. He contends that education debt is a more nuanced, historically based, and generative…

This year's Brown Center Report (BCR) on American Education is the 17th issue overall since its beginning in 2000. The 2018 edition focuses on the state of social studies and civics education in U.S. schools. Like previous editions, which were authored by Tom Loveless, the report comprises three studies: The first chapter examines student…

This article explores past and current education testing frameworks as a pretext for constructing a policy platform with the efficacy to transform systems and structures that hinder opportunities and resist equitable practices. The rise of accountability in education public policy has brought about intended and unintended outcomes. As prescribed,…

This report highlights states' school accountability systems, with an eye on the states that include a measure of student growth in their accountability system. For each state, the report includes: (1) Proficiency measures; (2) Growth measures; and (3) Additional measures such as graduation and dropout rates. The report also provides an overview…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed into law in 2001, fueled by bipartisan concern about the standardized test scores of U.S. students in comparison with their international cohort and dissatisfaction with gaps in achievement between certain student groups--low income, English-language learners, special education, and students of…

After two decades teaching elementary aged children, Janet Erskine states that she has grown increasingly concerned with the use of high-stakes tests to determine how well students, teachers, and schools are performing. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates took effect in 2002, requiring the results on some standardized assessments be used to…

This chapter summarizes a set of research studies that focus on high school course offerings, takings, and effects. Improving high school experiences and having students graduate from high school ready for college are national priorities under President Obama's Race to the Top initiative. Doing so by expanding access to advanced courses dates back…

The promise of quality education is a cornerstone of American culture. Why, then, is this not the experience of every child in our nation? In the 1990s, the charter school movement began under the auspices of an avenue to address the disillusionment of education policy, the sense of powerlessness felt by parents and teachers, and the disparities…

In this article, I critique the labels and terms used to frame practices aimed at closing the achievement gap. I examine how an unacknowledged "achievement gap Discourse" has emerged from the language that informs practices and policies of contemporary school reform. I use Gee's uppercase "Discourse" and a cultural analytic…

Every country--and even every community--has populations of students who severely underperform relative to other groups and to their own potential. These performance differences are generally called achievement gaps, and they tend to focus on gaps at basic levels of academic proficiency. But such gaps also exist among the highest levels of…

American educational policies over the last 40 years have represented an uninterrupted movement toward centralization. This article analyzes three terms that have become critical to the centralization of American education. More specifically, this article reviews the development, language, and source of the thematic terms and associated language…

With the passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, the United States spent millions upon millions of dollars in a largely unsuccessful effort to close the academic achievement gap between American-Indian and some other ethnic minorities and mainstream Americans. NCLB's focus on teacher quality and evidence-based curriculum and…