An etherealgirl's Adventures in Cyberland

Saturday, November 13, 2004

built to fail: the flaws in the no child left behind act

I came across this story again recently, and I can't see where I posted the link before so I'm posting it now.

Questions are raised about the true nature of the No Child Left Behind Act and the problems it is creating for one of the finest public school systems in the nation:

"Minnesota is a prime example of the carnage NCLB is likely to create. For decades, the state's education system has earned a sterling reputation by producing some of the nation's highest test scores and lowest drop-out rates. Yet in its evaluation of NCLB, the scrupulously thorough and nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor estimates that, even if Minnesota students showed a modest improvement in test scores and educational proficiency, 99 percent of the state's elementary schools would fail to make AYP 10 years from now, and 65 percent of the elementary schools receiving Title I funding would have to be "restructured." Under its most optimistic scenario for student improvement--which assumes, among other things, that the state's percentage of special education and immigrant students won't continue to grow, and that brand-new immigrants can boost their test scores just as rapidly as native-born Minnesotans--the auditor's office estimates an 82 percent failure rate on AYP for elementary schools in 2014, and the restructuring of 35 percent of the schools funded by Title I."



Posted by etherealfire :: 3:40 PM :: 0 Comments:

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