Reauthorizing No Child Left Behind: Facts and Recommendations [Paperback] [May 16, 2010] Stecher, Brian M.; Vernez, Georges and Steinberg, Paul

Studies suggest that the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001's goal of 100 percent of U.S. students proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014 will not be met. The authors recommend more-uniform state academic standards and teacher requirements and broader measures of student learning, including more subjects and tests of higher-thinking and problem-solving skills.

Dr. Brian Stecher (Ph.D., Education, University of California, Los Angeles) is a senior social scientist in the Education program at RAND. Dr. Stecher's research emphasis is applied educational measurement, including the implementation, quality, and impact of state assessment and accountability systems; the cost, quality, and feasibility of performance-based assessments, and the development and validation of licensing and certification examinations. Dr. Stecher currently directs a multi-state, NSF-funded study of the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind act, and he recently completed a four-year evaluation of the California Class Size Reduction initiative. Dr. Stecher is a member of the Technical Design Group, advising the California Department of Education on the development of that state's accountability system. Dr. Stecher has published widely in professional journals, and he is currently a member of the Editorial Board of the Educational Assessment Journal.

Georges Vernez (Ph.D., Urban and Regional Development, University of California, Berkeley) is a senior social scientist and director, Center for Research on Immigration Policy, at RAND.

Paul Steinberg is a rabbi and the director of Jewish studies and Hebrew at the Levine Academy in Dallas, Texas. He holds master's degrees in both education and rabbinic studies and was ordained from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. He is the author of The Study Guide to Jewish Ethics (JPS, 2003), articles on Hebrew Bible and Jewish education, and a monthly column on the spirit of Jewish holidays and family in the Texas Jewish Post.