It is well known to anyone who has stumbled across my blog that I am not a huge fan of No Child Left Behind, and from what I can gather most schools share my opinion. However, regardless of their feelings on the issue they are required to follow its rules. Or are they? The Chicago Tribune reported that many schools are using a loophole in the system to keep their schools off the failing list.
“Under the reform, schools are judged only on the scores of students enrolled for a “full academic year.” Each state is allowed to determine what constitutes a full year.
Until last year, Illinois schools were responsible only for students enrolled by Oct. 1 of that school year.
Now, students must be enrolled by May 1 of the previous school year for their score to count under the federal law.
The relaxation of the rules helped 53 schools, including 28 in Chicago, escape the federal failing schools list.” (Banchero and Little, 3/28/07)
There is something very vindicating about this to me. Even though it is not quite the same as teaching a banned book, or teaching other subject matter that may be controversial, I think it is just as much of a stand against an ujust sysytem. If a school is dealing with a student population that is ever fluxuating then how can they be expected to compete with schools with a more settled demographic? If this is the case then it is not an issue of what the school is doing at all, it is an issue of parenting. And it seems that this is the case with these schools because the difference in scores was enough to keep them off the failing list.
Schools need time to get students in the system and familiar with the way their schools work. Even one academic year might not be enough to get those students up to where they ought to be. These schools are waging a sneaky battle against a government that doesn’t seem to know what its doing when it comes to education. Teachers and other staff that are in the schools know how it works and how students respond to certain things. They know how long it takes new students to settle into the routine of their school, and so they would be the best judges of this; not lawmakers who have never visited the district.
“State uses test loophole”
Chicago Tribune- Mar 28, 2007
Bye: Stephanie Banchero and Darnell Little
link to full article
I love it! I think it is amazing that schools have found a way to get around those horrible NCLB laws. I think that it is better that there is a way to get around those laws, but the more that I think about it, aren’t the schools that are dodging bullets loosing money in the long run? Maybe I don’t know how some schools work with the money they recieve per student, but I would think that if some weren’t counted then they would recieve less funding. I don’t know…but I do think it is petty awsome that there is finally a way to run a school they feel it should be ran, without the government butting in all the time.