Past CEP Reports
"The Good News Behind Average NAEP Scores" (January 2006) View Report

The Center on Education Policy is a national, independent advocate for public education and for more effective public schools. The Center helps Americans better understand the role of public education in a democracy and the need to improve the academic quality of public schools. We do not represent any special interests. Instead, we try to help citizens make sense of the conflicting opinions and perceptions about public education and create the conditions that will lead to better public schools.

CEP Forum on Improving Low-Performing Schools

Lessons From Five Years Of Studying School Restructuring
Under No Child Left Behind

This forum will be the capstone event for CEP's five-year study of schools in restructuring under NCLB. The event will include a discussion of CEP's research on schools in restructuring under NCLB in six states — California, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New York and Ohio — and in 23 districts and 48 schools within those states. Panels will be composed of education leaders from the six states and principals of successfully restructured schools to discuss issues related to turning around low-performing schools. The intent is to have a conversation about the impact of past federal, state, and local policies as well as future directions for school improvement policies at all levels.

December 7, 2009
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Washington Marriott at Metro Center
775 12th Street NW
Washington DC 20005

Please click here to RSVP and reserve your place in the forum.

CEP Consumer Survey

Could we ask you for a favor? Could you complete a short survey to help us make our annual student achievement reports and other products more useful to you and others?

Since 2007, the Center on Education Policy has collected and analyzed student test data from all 50 states and has published our findings in a series of reports showing overall trends in test scores and trends in achievement gaps between different groups of students. All of these reports, along with test score data from all the states, appear on this Web site. This information can be accessed at no cost and we want to make it useful to you and others.

Thank you for taking the time to fill out the survey. We value your advice. CEP Consumer Survey »

What's New

State Test Score Trends Through 2007–08: Has Progress Been Made in Raising Achievement for Student with Disabilities?
Using data from state reading and mathematics tests, this report takes an in-depth look at the performance of students with disabilities and highlights the problems with the testing data for these students. View Materials

State High School Exit Exams: Trends in Test Programs, Alternate Pathways, and Pass Rates
The report draws from CEP's eight-year study of high school exit exams to identify long-term trends in state policies and student performance. It highlights a growing trend among states to establish alternate pathways to graduation for students who are struggling to pass exit exams. The report also analyzes exit exam pass rates and finds that 11 of the 16 states showed an average annual growth in the proportion of students passing the test in reading and 13 states showed average annual growth in mathematics. Although many states narrowed the gaps in initial pass rates between the various student subgroups over the years, the gaps remain large in both subjects. View Materials

How State and Federal Accountability Policies Have Influenced Curriculum and Instruction in Three States: Common Findings from Rhode Island, Illinois, and Washington
This report takes an in-depth look at how classroom practices in Rhode Island, Illinois, and Washington State have been influenced by state accountability policies and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The report, How State and Federal Accountability Policies Have Influenced Curriculum and Instruction in Three States, examines how teachers and administrators have responded to increased accountability and pressure to meet state standards. Drawing from case studies of 18 schools in the three states, CEP highlights the national implications for how accountability is impacting curriculum and instruction and provides recommendations to help mitigate some of the harmful effects of standards-based accountability systems. View Materials

State Test Score Trends Through 2007-08: Are Achievement Gaps Closing and Is Achievement Rising for All?
This report examines testing data from all 50 states to determine if achievement gaps between subgroups of students are narrowing. The report also looks at the achievement trends of subgroups of students at the elementary school level. View Materials

Rethinking the Federal Role in Elementary and Secondary Education: Summaries of Commissioned Papers
In 2008 and 2009, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) commissioned a series of major papers to assist in rethinking the federal role in elementary and secondary education. Authors were asked to review areas of activity in which the federal government has been involved over the past half century, determine the purposes of the federal programs, examine the evidence of their effect on education, and make recommendations for the future role of the federal government in public education. CEP also convened a series of public forums to discuss many of the papers. Later in 2009, the Center on Education Policy will issue a set of recommendations for President Obama and the Congress for shaping the federal role in elementary and secondary education. These recommendations will draw upon the evidence based analysis presented in these papers. This document contains summaries of the papers arranged by order of commission. Full papers can be found on under "Rethinking the Federal Role" tab on the left side of CEP's home page. View Materials

State Student Achievement Testing Data
This brochure invites research and analysis of the unique stockpile of data found on CEP's Web site regarding K-12 testing results from all 50 states. The brochure describes the wealth of available test data and explains how to access that information. View Materials

CEP Comments on Proposed Requirements for Title I School Improvement Funds
On September 24, 2009, the Center on Education Policy submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education on the proposed requirements for Title I school improvement funds that are provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. CEP's comments are informed by seven years of research on the No Child Left Behind Act, especially detailed work in six states studying their school improvement efforts. View Materials

Common Standards Article
The American School Board Journal (September 2009) contains an article on national or common academic standards written by Jack Jennings, CEP's president. View Materials

State Test Score Trends Through 2007-08

Part 2: Is There a Plateau Effect in Test Scores?
Many in the research and policy worlds have taken for granted the existence of a phenomenon known as the "plateau effect," wherein test scores rise in the early years of a test-based accountability system and then level off. Drawing from our database of reading and math test results from all 50 states going back as far as 1999, we looked for evidence of a plateau effect in 55 trend lines from 16 states with six to ten years of consistent test data. This report outlines those findings. View Materials

State Test Score Trends Through 2007-08

Part I, Is the Emphasis on "Proficiency" Shortchanging Higher- and Lower-Achieving Students?
**updated July 15, 2009** This report is the first in a series of reports describing results from CEP's third annual analysis of state testing data. The report provides an update on student performance at the proficient level of achievement, and for the first time, includes data about student performance at the advanced and basic levels. Also included are profiles for each state, which show trends in reading and math for basic, proficient, and advanced levels in elementary, middle, and high school. The study provides an in-depth look at the full range of student performance in order to better understand whether the No Child Left Behind Act's focus on proficiency has caused teachers to shortchange students at either end of the academic spectrum. View Materials

Compendium of Key Studies of the No Child Left Behind Act
As part of our project to rethink the federal role in elementary and secondary education, CEP has prepared this compendium, which summarizes the findings of major studies of the implementation and effects of NCLB conducted by various organizations and agencies. Both this compendium and CEP's broader project to rethink the federal role are intended to help policymakers make decisions informed by evidence from research. View Materials

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Public Schools
On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the economic stimulus package, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This law provides an unprecedented amount of federal funding for education. This summary describes the key components of the ARRA and discusses some of the implementation issues that are not yet decided. View Materials