States Are Helping Schools Hide Minority Test Scores

[SammyBlue]

In a way to shield them from NCLB penalties.

Isn't it time we abandon this G-d damn law?

States are helping public schools escape potential penalties by skirting the No Child Left Behind law's requirement that students of all races must show annual academic progress.

With the federal government's permission, schools aren't counting the test scores of nearly 2 million students when they report progress by racial groups, an Associated Press computer analysis found.

Minorities — who historically haven't fared as well as whites in testing — make up the vast majority of students whose scores are being excluded, AP found. And the numbers have been rising.

"I can't believe that my child is going through testing just like the person sitting next to him or her and she's not being counted," said Angela Smith, a single mother. Her daughter, Shunta' Winston, was among two dozen black students whose test scores weren't broken out by race at her suburban Kansas City, Mo., high school.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060417/ap_on_go_ot/no_child_loophole_2;_ylt=AsP4WtxQkwJ1gLGzj6kLZmg0Bk4B;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Enough is enough! Impeach, Indict, Imprison!!!!

[SoCalDem]

1. There was a special on last year about a texas school

that "transferred" a bunch of "low achievers" to special training centers before the tests were given so they would NOT show up as their students.. Most of these kids ended up dropping out..

The program followed a few schools in areas where there is not a lot of people moving in and out of the district..and they found literally THOUSANDS of kids who entered HS in 9th grade, but by the time they would have been seniors, they had "disappeared"..

[slackmaster]

2. So if a law isn't being obeyed, the solution is to ditch it?

:shrug:

[SammyBlue]

4. With this law, the idea is to ditch it before the damage is permanent!

I'm a teacher for a living! This law has all but destroyed most public schools!

[izzie]

3. I hate it when the gov. does this type stuff.

Like cost of living. Things go up to high so they remove it from the list. As if we can not see what is going on. Like the national guard numbers. Lower the amount so you hit the mark each month. It is so silly.

[noamnety]

5. Our school is in that bind

We're a tiny school district, roughly 350 kids. A few years, we had exactly ONE Asian student. One.

So we could have 349 students who surpass everyone's expectations - max out the entire test. But if that one student transfers out and a new Asian student transfers in and doesn't score as well, our entire school district is listed as a failing school, and we risk losing funds - based on nothing that relates to our performance as educators at all.

See the problem?

This is what's at the heart of NCLB. Design a thousand categories, and each invidual one has the power to cause your public school to lose money, and none of the categories you pass have the power to restore funding. It's just one more step in the push toward vouchers for private schools.