Friday, May 27, 2005

A Strong Positive To No Child Left Behind 

New York Times education columnist Sam Dillon reports today that one important impact of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Law is the emphasis schools are now placing on closing the achievement gap between black and white students:

Here in Boston, low-achieving students, most of them blacks and Hispanics, are seeing tutors during lunch hours for help with math. In a Sacramento junior high, low-achieving students are barred from orchestra and chorus to free up time for remedial English and math. And in Minnesota, where American Indian students, on average, score lower than whites on standardized tests, educators rearranged schedules so that Chippewa teenagers who once sewed beads onto native costumes during school now work on grammar and algebra.

"People all over the country are suddenly scrambling around trying to find ways to close this gap," said Ronald Ferguson, a Harvard professor who for more than a decade has been researching school practices that could help improve minority achievement. He said he recently has received many requests for advice. "Superintendents are calling and saying, 'Can you help us?' "
The other advantage to this law, in my opinion, is that schools are now being graded.

PermaLink | 6:36 AM | |

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