Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (2002) was touted as a major legislative achievement in President George W. Bush’s first term, which emphasizes a neoclassical economic based model that assumes that markets and competition will produce a competitive education system. This paper offers a case study of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School (CMS) District in Charlotte, North Carolina to test both the efficacy and assumptions of NCLB (2002). Utilizing hierarchical linear modeling of population data for all public elementary schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district, this research explores whether race-gender achievement gaps are ameliorated or exacerbated following a unitary court declaration and whether neoclassical theoretical assumptions are supported or not. Contrary to neoclassical assumptions, findings suggest that school choice resulted in increased segregation in CMS and greater inequality. In addition, this research found that both black male and female students had lower achievement scores and white females had lower achievement scores in racially segregated black schools after choice was implemented. The result is that, as school choice increased racial isolation in schools and black students are at risk of having lower scores on their end of grade tests. This result directly contradicts the stated goal of No Child Left Behind, which seeks to increase test scores, performance and accountability.