It's that time of the year again. My kids' school has gone into "teaching for the test" mode. If the schools don't test well, their funds get cut.
But the states are helping schools keep their funds by excluding the scores of minority students, as long as there's not too many of them.
No Child Left Behind in a lot of schools seems to apply to white kids.
States omitting minorities' test scores
Laquanya Agnew and Victoria Duncan share a desk, a love of reading and a
passion for learning. But because of a loophole in the No Child Left Behind Act,
one second-grader's score in Tennessee counts more than the other's. That is
because Laquanya is black, and Victoria is white.An Associated Press computer analysis has found Laquanya is among nearly 2
million children whose scores aren't counted when it comes to meeting the law's
requirement that schools track how students of different races perform on
standardized tests.The AP found that states are helping public schools escape potential
penalties by skirting that requirement. And minorities - who historically
haven't fared as well as whites in testing - make up the vast majority of
students whose scores are excluded.
The pressure of meeting minimum test scores have forced some students, in some schools to have no other classes other than math, English and PE. Bet they can't wait to get to school.
About 125 of the school's lowest-performing students are barred from taking
anything except math,
reading and gym, a measure that Samuel Harris, a former lieutenant colonel
in the Army who is the school's principal, said was draconian but necessary.
"When you look at a kid and you know he can't read, that's a tough call you've
got to make," Mr. Harris said.The increasing focus on two basic subjects has divided the nation's
educational establishment. Some authorities, including Secretary of Education
Margaret Spellings, say the federal law's focus on basic skills is raising
achievement in thousands of low-performing schools. Other experts warn that by
reducing the academic menu to steak and potatoes, schools risk giving bored
teenagers the message that school means repetition and drilling.
One child that didn't get left behind is the President's brother Neil, his company is cashing in on the required testing.
In his Talking Points Memo, Joshua Micah Marshall says Ignite!
makes its money by jetting Neil to exotic locales, where he visits
"international statesmen, bigwigs and criminals who want to 'invest' in Ignite!
as a way to curry favor with the brother in the White House."
I've spent forty years in public schools as a teacher, school psychologist and child psychologist and can say with confidence that I've never experienced lower moral or greater confusion than has resulted from the "No Child Left Behind" regulation. It is typical of a policy driven by politics and not by good educational knowledge and research. Good education results from good teachers and parents who are able and willing to be involved in their childrens education. No Child Left Behind punished poor school in poor areas by taking money away from them instead of giving them the infusion they need to raise standards. It has also robbed schools of programs such as arts and music by forcing them to compete in math and reading to get the bucks. There are kids left behind and many of them never graduate even though they are talented in areas other than math and reading. They are the poor, the children of disinfranchised families and those that are intellectually challanged; not only are they left behind, they are left out.
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