Federal Federal File

Some Schools Take No Restructuring Action, GAO Finds

By David J. Hoff — September 10, 2007 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Researchers have found that schools are reluctant to make major changes even after failing to reach student-achievement targets under the No Child Left Behind Act for five consecutive years.

Now, a Government Accountability Office report suggests that at least 6 percent of the 2,790 schools facing the severest sanctions under NCLB took none of the law’s prescribed actions to initiate improvements. What’s more, the congressional watchdog agency says, the number may actually be higher. The Department of Education hasn’t checked to see whether states are adequately monitoring the restructuring activities in their schools, according to the GAO.

The department “does not require states to report on the specific measures taken for each school, and therefore, the department has limited information on whether states have found that some districts may not be in compliance with [NCLB] requirements,” says the report, released Sept. 5.

See Also

For more stories on this topic see our Federal news page.

In fact, the GAO estimates, 42 percent of schools in the corrective-action and restructuring phases under the law did not receive all the help they were entitled to.

In studies commissioned last year by the American Enterprise Institute, researchers documented that most schools in the law’s corrective-action and restructuring phases had chosen to make few changes.

The authors attributed that lack of action to weak enforcement by the federal government and to schools’ efforts to escape major overhauls by using the law’s catchall category for “other” changes. (“U.S. Urged to Rethink NCLB ‘Tools’,” Dec. 6, 2007.)

The GAO found similar results. Forty percent of schools facing restructuring made “other” changes, such as creating smaller learning communities or reopening under a new theme.

By comparison, 27 percent of such schools replaced portions of their staffs, 9 percent contracted with a different education provider, and 5 percent were taken over by their states—much stiffer remedies available under the law. Just 1 percent of schools closed and re-opened as charter schools, the report says.

A version of this article appeared in the September 12, 2007 edition of Education Week

Events

Budget & Finance Webinar School Finance in an Uncertain Age
Navigating the new school finance reality? Get key insights from the 2025 Allovue Education Finance Survey in partnership.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Student Achievement Webinar What Effective Tutoring Should Look Like—and Achieve
Join this webinar to learn how to sustain effective tutoring programs that help improve students' performance in reading and math.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Opinion Trump's 100 Days: The Good, the Bad, and the Confounding
Watching the Trump 2.0 approach to education feels like being trapped in a Russian novel.
9 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Federal Trump Wades Into DEI Fight Over Native American Mascots in Schools
Scholars and Native American activists have long pushed back on schools’ use of such images.
6 min read
Chiefs signs and logos are at Massapequa High School in Massapequa, N.Y., on April 25, 2025.
Chiefs signs and logos are at Massapequa High School in Massapequa, N.Y., on April 25, 2025.
Ted Shaffrey/AP
Federal Trump to Schools: Banish 'Equity Ideology' in Discipline
Trump’s latest action continues to take aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
8 min read
President Donald Trump signs an executive order regarding education in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon watch.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order regarding education in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon watch.
Alex Brandon/AP
Federal Viral AI Gaffe and Ed. Dept. Cuts: How Educators View Linda McMahon So Far
Here's what educators think about the education secretary's performance so far.
6 min read
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks at the ASU+GSV Summit at the Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego on April 8, 2025.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks at the ASU+GSV Summit at the Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego on April 8, 2025.
Ariana Drehsler for Education Week