Dive Brief:

• With a potential reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act on the horizon, the New York Times has provided a history of No Child Left Behind, detailing what has and hasn't been successful.
• The Times explains how before NCLB, only two states had accountability systems that specifically took into account the track records of minority students, while 17 states had no accountability systems at all.
• It also explains how the program's emphasis on testing and attached consequences has led to schools being labeled "failing" even if they are doing some pretty remarkable things outside of standardized testing.

Dive Insight:

The article looks at how the NCLB waiver system has become somewhat necessary, but it is not sustainable. Despite this more historical account of what has occurred in education since the early '00s, when NCLB came to be, the New York Times has weighed in before on what it believes should happen in terms of the ESEA re-authorization. A February piece by the paper's editorial board backed testing, but also stressed a need for limits on how scores affect schools and teachers.