Leading national civil rights groups and advocates are increasingly divided over whether the No Child Left Behind Act will improve the academic achievement of poor and minority students, a rift that is generating conversation and concern among a circle of people accustomed to working together. Few civil rights advocates disagree with the law's overarching goal: bringing all U.S. students' state test scores in reading and mathematics to the proficient level by 2013-14. Because that goal requires closing gaps between African-American and Hispanic students and their white peers, most support the law's mandate to break down performance data for racial, ethnic, economic, and other subgroups to hold schools and districts accountable for their progress. But the law's sanctions for failing to make adequate yearly progress toward its goals have some in the civil rights community claiming it penalizes and stigmatizes struggling districts and schools without giving them the resources needed to improve. Others believe the law is the best tool available to pressure schools and districts to ensure that all students receive a high-quality education. The debate came into sharp focus, when the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University released a report examining district-level accountability under the federal law in six states. It concluded that districts facing sanctions, such as student transfers, serve large numbers of poor and minority students.