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javasaurusNew AP report on how schools are getting around "no child left behind"
I've heard previously about how schools use loopholes to avoid punishment in "no child left behind." For example, you only count scores of students who finish the year. So you expel any who test poorly, and they don't count.
This new AP report talks about another loophole: minority exclusion. The law requires not only that overall averages go up each year, but that averages for each race go up each year. There are exclusions for minorities that are not well represented in a state (if you only have 3 students of race X then it's difficult to produce valid statistics). The limits for sufficient representation are not well defined, and some states are excluding whole minorities from being counted. For example, 65000 Asian students in Texas are not counted.
The article concludes, “They’re asking the question, not how do we generate statistically reliable results, but how do we generate politically palatable results,” he said.
I've heard previously about how schools use loopholes to avoid punishment in "no child left behind." For example, you only count scores of students who finish the year. So you expel any who test poorly, and they don't count.
This new AP report talks about another loophole: minority exclusion. The law requires not only that overall averages go up each year, but that averages for each race go up each year. There are exclusions for minorities that are not well represented in a state (if you only have 3 students of race X then it's difficult to produce valid statistics). The limits for sufficient representation are not well defined, and some states are excluding whole minorities from being counted. For example, 65000 Asian students in Texas are not counted.
The article concludes, “They’re asking the question, not how do we generate statistically reliable results, but how do we generate politically palatable results,” he said.
