The Effects of No Child Left Behind on Student Outcomes and School Services

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to study whether the incentives built into the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have a net positive impact on students' academic achievement, students' non-academic outcomes, and school resource allocation. Under NCLB, states annually determine whether public schools satisfy Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) based on the fraction of students demonstrating proficiency on a statewide exam. Public schools have strong incentives to satisfy AYP: failure triggers sanctions that escalate over consecutive years, and states are required to publish annual school report cards, which can affect school prestige, local property values, and financial rewards to schools and teachers. Using quasi-experimental methods, the project will evaluate the efficacy of the accountability pressure put on schools that expect to be near the margin for meeting AYP using a nationally representative sample of schools and students.