Under the new standards of the No Child Left Behind Act, effective schooling is assessed by judging whether classroom or schooling process are related to the intentions of the state in terms of curriculum delivery. School districts or individual schools now caught with a curriculum guide and a state test that are not carefully matched to each other are in great trouble as they report their effectiveness to both the state and their communities. Now more than ever, it will be important for schools to grasp the idea of alignment to state standards. It will be a critical factor to school effectiveness reporting and should be noted that it will be impossible for teachers and schools to be found effective if they teach one thing and find the students tested on another. If students are to take a test that will be used to judge the schools effectiveness then students must have the opportunity to learn what it is that is on the test. 

Sensible discussion of effectiveness cannot be measured unless the skills and knowledge of instruction are convergent to the desires and responsibilities of teachers to give each child an opportunity to learn the skills desirable. Any achievement test used as an indicator of school effectiveness must be linked logically to the curriculum that is delivered. The meaning of an opportunity to learn is when students are successfully engaged in task that is related to skills they will be assessed on in the future.