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One of the main drawbacks of the program was that it punished schools for low test scores with decreased funding, which directly led to schools in impoverished areas or with high numbers of students with learning disabilities being further left behind.

Additionally, teachers in these schools were directly held accountable for students tests scores. While this sounds good on paper, it results in two obvious problems. The first being that good teachers at poor schools are either forced out or voluntarily leave as a result of a diminished workplace. The second applies to all schools and is that teachers no longer educate children, instead focusing on ‘teaching the test.’ Basically the entire focus of a child’s education was changed to making sure that they were prepared to pass a specific set of question types at the end of the year, as opposed to a more holistic education. ‘Teaching to the test’ also had other unintended downstream negative effects, such as reduced funding for the arts and humanities, as they were not a part of the testing protocol.

In [the most disadvantaged schools] in America, even the most earnest teacher has often given up because they lack every available resource that could possibly make a difference. ... When we say all children can achieve and then not give them the additional resources ... we are creating a fantasy.

-Susan B Neuman, U.S. Department of Education's former Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education

As for my anecdotal experience, I went to a school in NC as part of the magnet program which, along with bussing, sent students to the poorer districts as an attempt to both integrate as well as increase funding and educational outcomes of schools in those districts. This all came to a screeching halt when the NC judiciary deemed this practice unconstitutional. As a result my school, which was largely held afloat by these measures was no longer capable of getting by. The results of this decision were immediately noticeable, with test scores plummeting and the state taking over almost immediately. This resulted in decreased funding, both from the state/feds and from the withdrawal of more affluent families in the Parent Teacher Associations (which have a high impact on school conditions in the state). All of the more exceptional teachers that were there when I was a student were forced out or chose to leave due to conditions, and I can remember reading articles of teachers literally driving around the ghetto trying to find their students to convince them to show up for the end of year tests. Twenty years later and the school still has not recovered.