Lessons from the Front: Improving the Achievement of Hispanic
Students in Texas
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) attempts to reform schools because of the
widespread belief that students in the United States are neither learning enough nor performing
as well on achievement tests than students of other nations (Stecher, Hamilton and Gonzalez
2003); therefore, NCLB emphasizes student achievement. Researchers have identified ethnic
disparities in achievement test scores (Caldas 1998, Garibaldi 1997, Lentz 2002a, 2002b, 2003,
and Meier, Steward, and England, 1989); thus, many NCLB programs focus on improving the
achievement of disadvantaged students or those that do not speak English as their first language.
This paper reports the results of interviews conducted by the author to demonstrate the leadership
role of school principals in improving the achievement of Hispanic students.
The accountability instrument, Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test, is used
in Texas to measure NCLB target achievement goals. Texas Hispanic and Afro-American
students have historically performed worse on achievement tests than Anglo students (Lentz
2003). NCLB allocated extra funding to help economically disadvantaged students to even the
playing field through Title I programs, provided highly qualified teachers in the classroom
through Title II, and enhanced focus on students who do not speak English as a second language
through Title III programs, the test scores of economically disadvantaged students and those who
do not speak English as a first language carry the same weight as Anglo students in measuring
accountability measurement. However, there are punitive penalties for students, school
principals and school districts that do not meet the NCLB target mandates for student
achievement. In fact, principals that consistently miss the target passage rates may be reassigned
Convention