The study of whiteness in education is receiving increased attention. This essay argues that the No Child Left Behind Act is an example of color-blindness "par excellence." NCLB's hidden referent of whiteness makes a casual pass at racial explanation that sidesteps race as a causal explanation for educational disparities. In this sense, NCLB is an "act of whiteness" and perpetuates the innocence of whiteness as a system of privilege. It is a form of whiteness as policy. Its white common sense deems racial disparities as unfortunate outcomes of group competition, uneven social development, or worse, as stubborn cultural explanations of the inferiority of people of color. The essay argues for a color-conscious perspective that problematizes the otherwise race-neutral discourse of NCLB. It ends with a discussion of the future of whiteness by engaging the debate between the abolition and rearticulation of whiteness. (Contains 3 notes.)