ABSTRACT
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 makes standardized testing a cornerstone of educational accountability. Under NCLB, states are obliged to develop curriculum-based exams in mathematics, reading, and science and to evaluate their schools and districts on the basis of such instruments. States must define “adequate yearly progress”; so all students are expected to improve, and in 12 years all students will meet the state’s standard for proficiency. Schools that do not show adequate progress for two consecutive years will be flagged as failing.
