Are Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind Having the Desired Effect? Assessing State Education Accountability Models and Teacher Dismissals

Abstract

Federal education policies such as President Obama’s Race to the Top and George Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act have used federal funding to encourage states to adopt performance accountability models. Though these initiatives aim to have a positive long term impact on educational outcomes, it is unclear whether states have meaningfully invested in performance centered policy reforms. This research develops a quantitative model that measures varying levels of commitment to performance management among the 50 states by creating a policy index that assesses the strength of states’ teacher performance policies. The model assess whether NCLB, Race to the Top, teacher shortages, minority student performance, teacher experience, and organized labor union impact state policy strength. It then gauges policy effectiveness by examining whether states that implemented more challenging performance accountability policies were more likely to dismiss underperforming teachers.

Keywords: Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind, education policy, performance accountability