> Can you link to something about the incentive programs?

Well, the negative side is mostly the consequences for failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the NCLB.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adequate_Yearly_Progress

AYP is out. The goals looked good on paper, made good sound bites for the news, but weren't realistic. NCLB is out too. The new thing is the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Right, but ESSA is less than a year old; NCLB and its AYP-based incentives spent nearly a decade and a half shaping American school outcomes (and many of the state and local laws and policies established in order to meet NCLB requirements and the incentives of the AYP system haven't been revised.)

ESSA, OTOH, maintains the basic structure of NCLB, including the same kind of accountability system, but leaves detailed setting of standards and interventions to the states. It may weaken, but seems unlikely to eliminate, the pressures against advanced promotion (particularly in grades 3-8, where it continues the requirement for annual testing) created by NCLB and its AYP-based interventions.