Unreliable Data, Oversight Hampers Ed Law

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON - Unreliable test scores and other shaky data may be causing states to wrongly penalize some schools under federal law, congressional investigators have found.

The report is the latest to raise a warning about the accuracy of school data — an essential underpinning of the No Child Left Behind law — among the states.

"Measuring achievement with inaccurate data is likely to lead to poor measures of school progress, with education officials and parents making decisions about educational options on the basis of faulty information," said the report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' auditing arm.

Under the law, schools that get federal poverty aid and fail to make enough progress for two straight years must allow any of their students to transfer. If the schools fall short three straight years, students from poor families must be provided a tutor of their choice.

But states may be incorrectly triggering the transfer and tutor provisions, the GAO said.

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