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There has been a strong movement in recent years to use curriculum standards as a basis for assessing student performance in the United States. There has also been a high demand by legislators and citizens at large for higher test scores and better school performance due to the enactment of The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, or No Child Left Behind (NCLB) This thesis will examine and synthesize the evidence both for and against this legislation. This paper will answer the question: Has the No Child Left Behind Act and the initiatives mandated in this act improved student performance across the United States especially in inner city and rural areas across the nation? Education in the United States has continually evolved from the beginning of the public school movement of the early 1990’s until now. In 1990, prior to the No Child Left Behind Act, the New Standards Project was the first of many professional organizations and committees created to develop standards in education. There were both content and performance standards created in many subject areas for each grade level, K-12. Content standards are “documents that define what students should know and be able to do in given subject areas ” (Floden, R.E. (ed). (2004). Content standards were organized and implemented more generally on a national level