No Child Left Behind and the Reduction of the Achievement Gap

Alan R. Sadovnik is Professor of Education, Sociology, and Public Affairs at Rutgers University.

This collection presents the first-ever sociological analysis of the No Child Left Behind Act. More importantly, these leading sociologists consider whether NLCB can or will accomplish its major goal: to eliminate the achievement gap by 2014. Based on theoretical and empirical research, the articles examine the history of federal educational policy and place NCLB in a larger sociological and historical context, and take up a number of policy areas affected by the law, including accountability and assessment, curriculum and instruction, teacher quality, parental involvement, school choice and urban education. The book concludes with a discussion of the important contributions of sociological research and sociological analysis to understanding the limits and possibilities of the law to reduce the achievement gap.

Introduction George Bohrnstedt and Jennifer O' Day Part 1: Federal and State Educational Policy and NCLB 1. No Child Left Behind? Sociology Ignored! David Karen Part 2: Accountability and Assessment 2. NCLB and the Complexity of School Improvement Jennifer O'Day 3. Double Standards for Graduation Rate Accountability? Or None? Christopher B. Swanson 4. Who Counts for Accountability?: High-Stakes Test Exemptions in a Large Urban School District Jennifer Booher-Jennings and Andrew Beveridge 5. Inside the Black Box of Accountability: How High-Stakes Accountability Alters School Culture and the Classification and Treatment of Students and Teachers Katie Weitz White and James Rosenbaum Part 3: Teaching and Teacher Quality 6. AIR, State Policy Activity under NCLB: Adequate Yearly Progress and Highly Qualified Teachers Kerstin Carlson Le Floch 7. Professionalism Under Siege: Teachers' Views of the No Child Left Behind Act Steven Brint and Sue Teele 8. Teacher Quality: Educational Inequality and the Organization of Schools Richard Ingersoll 9. Teaching Quality as a Problem of School Change Joan Talbert and Milbrey McLaughlin Part 4: School Choice and Parental Involvement 10. False Promises: The School Choice Provisions in No Child Left Behind Douglas Lee Lauen 11. When School Choice Leaves Many Children Behind: Implications for NCLB from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Roslyn Arlin Mickelson and Stephanie Southworth 12. Non-Promotional School Change and the Achievement of Texas Students: Possible Public School Choice Outcomes under No Child Left Behind A. Gary Dworkin and Jon Lorence 13. Research Meets Policy and Practice: How Are School Districts Addressing NCLB Requirements for Parental Involvement? Joyce L. Epstein 14. Getting Families Involved With NCLB: Factors Affecting Schools' Enactment of Federal Policy Steven B. Sheldon Part 5: Federal Involvement, NCLB and the Reduction of the Achievement Gap 15. Learning from Philadelphia's School Reform: The Impact of NCLB and Related State Legislation Elizabeth Useem 16. Can NCLB Close Achievement Gaps? David Armor 17. Symbolic Uses of the "No Child Left Behind Act": Reaffirmation of Equality of Educational Opportunity or De-Legitimization of Public Schools? Mary Haywood Metz 18. Conclusion: Sociological Perspectives on NCLB and Federal Involvement in Education Alan R. Sadovnik, A.Gary Dworkin, Adam Gamoran, Maureen Hallinan and Janelle Scott