A recent report from the Center on Education Policy suggests that students are improving on state reading and math tests. More than that:

the achievement gap between black and white students is shrinking in many states and … the pace of student gains increased after the law was enacted – Scores Up Since ‘No Child’ Was Signed – washingtonpost.com

A few caveats from the Post article:

• “The study found that gains tended to be larger in math than in reading and larger at the elementary level than in middle and high school.”
• “researchers cautioned that the gaps remain enormous”
• “test-score gains accelerated after enactment of No Child Left Behind in nine of the 13 states with sufficient data”

One critic of the study said it “made little sense to draw conclusions when so few states have adequate data” and that the researchers “overstated small gains and did not adequately address states … have been dumbing down standards.”

Even if the study is accurate, it merely suggests that students have improved their ability to take tests. This is not the same thing as suggesting that NCLB is a successful educational policy. I’m not dismissing “testing” or implying that performing well on standardized tests is irrelevant, but I am repeating and repeating: standardized testing isn’t everything that’s important in education … and this is more true in some “disciplines” than in others.