31 John Cronin G. Gage Kinsbury Martha S. McCall Branin Bowe 2005 <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A recent report from the Northwest Evaluation Association suggests that while accountability test scores are rising, individual student progress may be suffering in the wake of NCLB's implementation. As the New York Times explained it, &quot;individual growth has slowed, possibly because teachers feel compelled to spend the bulk of their time making sure students who are near proficiency make it over the hurdle. The practice may leave teachers with less time to focus on students who are either far below or far above the proficiency mark, the researchers said, making it less likely for the whole class to move forward as rapidly as before No Child Left Behind set the agenda.&quot; Critics of the study, which has received a lot of media attention, note that the sample used by NWEA is not nationally representative (75 percent is from just four states) and that urban districts are underrepresented. &quot;The bottom line,&quot; says Andy Rotherham in his EduWonk blog (http://www.eduwonk.com), &quot;is that the law is basically three years old, less in the case of many provisions, so it's just too soon to know if 'it's working', which is too broad a question anyway.&quot;</span></p><p>Cronin, J.; Kinsbury, G.G.; McCall, M.S.; &amp;&nbsp; Bowe, B. (2005). The impact of the no child left behind act on student achievement and growth.Retrieved from the Northwest Evaluation Association 17 Apr 2008. Link: http://www.nwea.org/assets/research/national/NCLBImpact_2005_Study.pdf</p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> http://www.nwea.org/assets/research/national/NCLBImpact_2005_Study.pdf