The purpose of this article is to discuss the misalignment between public school assessment policies and teaching practices in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), and the human capital, curricula, and soft-skill needs of the global economy. The authors suggest that changes regarding the nature of learning, how it is assessed, and the skills taught are critical to the educational and social success of African American males. This article consists of four sections. The first section explains federal elementary and secondary education reform practices that have been mandated by No Child Left Behind (NCLB). For the purposes of this article, the authors focus their discussion on NCLB on how Title I schools are affected, because the majority of school age Black males attend schools with this government designation. The second section articulates the divisions of labor and soft-skills needed in the global economy. Section three highlights the divergences between NCLB, the occupational competencies for high-tier employment, and the skills determined to be important in the knowledge economy. The authors conclude the article by discussing the effects current federal educational policies will have on African American males' opportunity to participate in the post-industrial workforce. (Contains 3 notes.)