School leadership challenges under no child left behind: lessons from UCEA's project 'Voices from the Field – Phase 3'

It has been argued on many fronts that something is seriously wrong with American education, particularly if we look at student achievement as the main criterion for success. Kerachsky (2009) reported minimal progress in student achievement in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) since 2004. Over a longer period, from 1971 to 2008, there has been a 6% improvement in scores for reading for 9-year-olds, a 2% improvement in 13-year-olds, but no improvement in 17-year-olds. Again, for mathematics, the actual numbers are different, but exactly the same trend occurs overall. Lee and Reeves (2012) showed that improvements in NAEP scores by states could not be related to “short-term NCLB implementation fidelity, rigor of standards, and state agency’s capacity for data tracking and intervention” (p. 209). There has been a reduction in the gap between White students and other student groups in reading at all three levels. Lauen and Gaddis (2012) analyzed NAEP scores in North Carolina and concluded that NCLB sanctions had had “positive effects for minority and disadvantaged students” (p. 185).