Test shows No Child law has little impact

WASHINGTON, April 28 (UPI) -- Test results indicate the No Child Left Behind Act has had little success in narrowing the gap between white and minority students in the United States.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress: Trends in Academic Progress has been given to samples of U.S. students for decades. Blacks and Hispanics made some gains last year over the 2004 results, but white students' scores increased by about the same amount, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The law was one of the centerpieces of President George W. Bush's domestic policy, and he frequently touted the progress being made. But the Times said desegregation in the 1970s and 1980s did more to close the achievement gap.

"There's not much indication that NCLB is causing the kind of change we were all hoping for," said G. Gage Kingsbury, a director at the Northwest Evaluation Association in Portland. "Trends after the law took effect mimic trends we were seeing before. But in terms of watershed change, that doesn't seem to be happening."

The national test is given to 9-, 13- and 17-year-olds. Average scores for the oldest students are about what they were in the 1970s, although scores are up slightly for younger students.