A mainstay in NCLB and the Obama administration education plan is turning around low-performing schools. This study utilized surveys and interviews with school leaders from four turnaround urban high schools in Texas to understand student outcomes before and after school restructuring and reconstitution. Although some organizational changes were apparent; overall, respondents cited rapidly changing technical strategies and haphazard adjustments from external sources as a great challenge. Reconstitution also magnified challenges that existed before and after restructuring efforts. Most importantly, the evidence suggests that school reconstitution did not immediately improve student achievement, impact grade retention and decrease student dropout in the study schools.

This article presents an analysis of four ethnographic studies examining the impacts of the NoChild Left Behind (NCLB) Act on minority youth. The analysis relies on qualitative approaches to address immediate problems of practice as well as broad theoretical questions related to NCLB. The studies reveal nuances in teacher pedagogy, curricular instruction, cultures, communities, and political influences that cannot be captured in reviews of purely quantitative data. [NCLB, qualitative, ethnographic, English Language Learners, special populations] As the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal education policy takes root in our public schools and school districts across the nation, the scholarly community must assess the impact of this unprecedented, sweeping reform that is allegedly poised to alleviate the underachieving profile of poor, minority children and their communities. Key concerns are whether and how the rationale embedded within the law fulfills the promise to improve the quality of districts, schools, and teacher instruction, with the ultimate aim of eliminating the achievement gap between white, middle-class youth and U.S. ethnic minorities. Additional related concerns are the effects of this focus on children, teachers, curriculum and instruction, and school-and district-level processes.

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