ABSTRACT
In 2001-2002, President George W. Bush and a group of elite education specialists institutionalized structural education reform by adding a test-based accountability system onto the system of curriculum standards mandated by the Clinton Administration. The Bush Administration’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law set a national goal of raising all students to proficiency by 2014. To achieve this goal, the law required states to annually test students in grades three through eight in math and reading, to disaggregate students’ test scores by race, income, special education, and English language learner subgroup, and to impose specific interventions on schools failing to make adequate yearly progress.
