The Implications of No Child Left Behind’s Waivers for Contemporary School Improvement Systems

This study explores the effect of waiver school improvement designations on student achievement. In states that received waivers, schools designated for improvement had worse outcomes than undesignated schools (−0.044 SD). The average effect obscures the significant positive effect of the designations in 14 of the 44 states that received waivers. Federal per pupil education funding accounted for half of the effect of waiver school improvement designations on student achievement. These results reinforce the importance of providing additional resources to support school improvement, particularly for post-pandemic school improvement policy.