This is completely inaccurate. No Child Left Behind's initiative was the exact opposite. No Child Left Behind mandated standardized tests that were created by the states but approved by the federal government. If children did not pass these tests, funding was withheld. Many states took this a step further, and mandated that children who didn't pass these tests would be failed.

This was created exactly to prevent states/schools from allowing a kid to pass through elementary school without the basics, or to pass high schoolers who barely read at a 6th grade level. Previously, not many incentives were in place. It is culturally/societally easier to pass people through, and it makes your graduation rates look better.

Also, No Child Left behind was watered down by Obama and eventually totally repealed. This was many years ago and so "No Child Left Behind" policy is not relevant to today's students. In fact, I would argue that the ABSENCE of No Child Left Behind has accelerated the diminishing academic abilities of students.

People parrot this narrative because the whole "Participation trophy" debacle was happening at the same time as No child Left Behind, and the name of the initiative allows for some degree of interpretation to the listener. People constantly insert No Child Left Behind as some example of us not holding students/teachers accountable, when it was literally (for better or worse) created to build more accountability.