The piece argues that after states adopted Common Core and the Every Student Succeeds Act loosened No Child Left Behind’s accountability, scores at the 10th and 25th percentiles fell most. Under NCLB, low performers gained; post‑2013 those gains reversed. The claim is that weaker accountability widened achievement gaps by pulling the bottom tail down.
— If accurate, this pushes lawmakers to revisit ESSA-era accountability and focus interventions on bottom‑tail performance rather than average proficiency alone.
Kelsey Piper
2025.09.25
80% relevant
The article highlights that post‑2015 reading declines have been steepest for the bottom 10% nationally and argues blue states avoided hard accountability and effective reading practices, while Mississippi’s accountability‑backed reforms raised outcomes—aligning with the claim that weaker accountability pulled the bottom tail down.
2025.09.16
90% relevant
The NAEP blurb claims 'academic progress collapsed as accountability weakened' after No Child Left Behind was replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act, directly echoing the existing thesis that loosening accountability hurt bottom‑tail performance.
Jennifer Weber
2025.09.15
100% relevant
The article’s NAEP breakdown shows declines concentrated at the 10th/25th percentiles after 2013 while noting earlier NCLB-era gains for low performers.