Students in Utah and nationwide have mostly improved in reading and math since No Child Left Behind started, according to a report released today.

And contrary to popular belief, it's not just students in the middle who've improved; students at high and low levels have also done better, according to the Center on Education Policy report.

The report doesn't go so far as to credit No Child Left Behind (NCLB) with the good news, instead measuring changes since the implementation of the law, which requires all students to test on grade level in math and reading by 2014.

Jack Jennings, president of the independent, Washington D.C.-based center, credited the improvements to 20 years of education reforms.

"It's just the accumulation of efforts to improve test scores, possibly given an extra oomph by No Child Left Behind," he said.

Larry Shumway, who will take over as Utah schools superintendent in July, said NCLB has many flaws: It doesn't measure progress in subjects other than reading and math; it labels some schools as failing based on a narrow set of results; and it doesn't measure other types of school success. But the law has helped Utah focus more on using data to drive instruction, he said.

"Despite all the problems with NCLB, one of the good things that we've done throughout the state because of it is to focus on student achievement more intently," Shumway said. "It has helped, but I think we could do much better."

The report also shows that low- and high-achieving children have not been shortchanged. Some educators have long alleged that because NCLB focuses so heavily on bringing all students up to grade level, gifted and low-achieving students are sometimes pushed to the side.

But according to the report, the percentages of students scoring at basic, proficient and advanced levels in Utah mostly went up since 2004 while the percentages scoring below basic mostly shrunk. NCLB took effect in 2002, but the report measures Utah's progress since 2004 because that's when the state made significant changes to its testing system.

Not everyone is convinced by the report's findings.

Sheri Sorensen, president of the Utah Association for Gifted Children, suspects that if states were required to report the percentages of students who score above grade level, those figures would show declines since the enactment of NCLB.

Under NCLB, schools aren't rewarded for children who perform at advanced levels, but they can be penalized if not enough students perform at least at grade level. That, Sorensen said, puts pressure on schools to focus mostly on just getting students to grade level.

"Every child needs to learn something new every day," Sorensen said. "Any time a child isn't allowed to achieve to their highest potential, they've been cheated."

The National Association for Gifted Children wants the feds to start requiring states to track and report students who score advanced as part of NCLB. A 2007 report from the Virginia-based Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and public policy firm Civic Enterprises criticized NCLB for failing to provide incentives for schools to help students perform at advanced levels, saying many low-income, high-achievers fall through the cracks.

Utah already tracks the percentages of students who test advanced but doesn't report those figures to the federal government because it's not required, said Judy Park, state associate superintendent.