New Harvard Research Shows How the U.S. Department of Education is Changing the Meaning of "No Child Left Behind" Through Negotiated Deals with States

Cambridge, MA—February 10, 2006—A new study by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University (CRP) shows how the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is being changed through a series of negotiations between the U.S. Department of Education and individual states.
This study reports that Department officials have been approving changes in how states implement NCLB by negotiating changes individually with each state. The authors contend that this process of making compromises with individual states has altered the meaning of accountability since no two states are now subject to the same requirements.