The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) initiated sweeping changes to the U.S. educational system. However, many have argued that NCLB is not accomplishing its stated purposes of improving education for disadvantaged students and closing the achievement gap. This policy analysis sheds light on the social and emotional risk factors that prevent students from succeeding in school but are missing from NCLB and contributing to its lack of effectiveness. Moreover, this article suggests that school social workers can alleviate these barriers to academic success by implementing school-based interventions to address the psychosocial factors that underlie differential achievement in school. School social workers can also advocate for changes in education policy to ensure that vulnerable students are not left behind.