"When we pose the question, 'How much is enough?' we never really get a good answer. "

Lindsey Burke is a Senior Policy Analyst in Domestic Policy Studies with the the Heritage Foundation. She joined the Brain Trust to discuss the ongoing impact of No Child Left Behind. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of her segment.

How successful has No Child Left Behind been?

Unfortunately, not very successful at all. It's been around in various iterations over the years, but in the past 45 years, we have not seen very much improvement at all.

It's very disappointing, because we've spent more and more money on it.

We aren't getting much bang for our buck.

You're absolutely right. When we pose the question, "How much is enough?" we never really get a good answer. 

Graduation rate is still the same as it was in the 70s. Even in affluent school across the country, performance is still mediocre compared to other countries.

Where does all the money go?

Only about 60 cents to the dollar actually makes it to the classroom. 

I think the best things we could do is ask how we could get that money into the hands of parents. We need to allow money to be used in school choice, and the children to be able to access those options. 

We're seeing school choice take hold across the country. It's the most effective reform that we could make.

Is school choice a possibility?

I think it is. I do think that 20 years from now, the school choice landscape will look entirely different than it does now. I hope that every state will have robust school choice options.

What role does online learning play?

We have a great study that came out from the Department . of Education. It found that children who take courses online coupled with classroom experience actually performed better than children in a traditional public or private school.