One odd consequence of Leave no Child Behind

[dsc]

I work in a moderate sized school system one of which's elementary schools is judged a failing school. Therefore parents may transfer to any elementary school in the system that they wish. Apparently this has happened to no small extent. So far so good one would think. But, this is where it gets odd. The school to which they transferred is every bit as bad (I haven't a clue how they are not judged a failing school). Why did this happen? Simple, that is the only elementary school close to the failing one. So the school which was judged failing has fewer students and thus somewhat lower student-teacher ratio while the school which had to be close to failing has more students and larger classes. It seems to me that this is going to lead to schools near failing schools failing themselves. After all, bad schools are going to tend to be near each other since bad neighborhoods tend to have bad schools. Assumedly this isn't intended but it seems unavoidable.

[Fridays Child]

1. A very interesting observation. Why don't you write to the...

...Dean campaign about it? I know that the utter failure of "Leave No Child Behind" is of great concern to Dr. Dean.

[madrchsod]

2. a friend works in the chicago burbs

they transfer all the "bad" students to her morning class school which is the failing school now. her afternoon school has excellent rating because they transfered all the "bad" kids to the morning school. "bad" is that the students have learning disabilities and socialization problems. i don`t want to start on my daughters high school and the hoops they jump thru to get a passing grade....

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. I do not tihink it was accidental

In fact I woudl not be surprised if it was planned

[sleipnir]

4. Apathy of the youth towards education will kill America

as will the horrific monstrosity called "No Child Left Behind" I hate that bill, I really do, it's so sick and bloated, with no common sense.