Left Behind by Design: Proficiency Counts and Test-Based Accountability
研究发现芝加哥公立学校中，NCLB法案和类似改革提高了中等成绩学生的阅读和数学分数，但对最弱势学生无显著影响，且达标要求的变化促使教师将更多注意力转向接近标准的学生。
We show that within the Chicago Public Schools, both the introduction of NCLB in 2002 and the introduction of similar district-level reforms in 1996 generated noteworthy increases in reading and math scores among students in the middle of the achievement distribution but not among the least academically advantaged students. The stringency of proficiency requirements varied among the programs implemented for different grades in different years, and our results suggest that changes in proficiency requirements induce teachers to shift more attention to students who are near the current proficiency standard. © 2010 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.