Rule Changes Caused Most School "Accountability" Gains - NCLB

[JPZenger]

Philadelphia Inquirer Article

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/10034106.htm

(My Commentary: George W. brags about how his No Child Left Behind has caused gains in the number of schools meeting minimum standards. However, as this article points out, much of those gains resulted from the Bush Administration allowing 12 states to lower the standards. The following article mainly addresses PA. but also references other states)

Excerpt:
"School accountability gains that Pennsylvania education officials lauded resulted from lower standards, not improved performance, according to an Inquirer analysis. More than twice as many schools would not have made what the state considers "adequate yearly progress" toward goals set under the federal No Child Left Behind Act if the rules had not been changed.

The changes allowed schools with lower graduation rates, lower standardized test scores, or lower attendance than in previous years to win passing marks. For example, a 2003 standard requiring high schools to have graduation rates of 95 percent or to show improvement was reduced to 80 percent or improvement for 2004.

Pennsylvania was among dozens of states allowed by the U.S. Department of Education to change the standards... In 2004, 81 percent of the state's schools met the act's so-called adequate yearly progress benchmarks using the new standards. But the Inquirer analysis found that if the same rules used in 2003 had been used in 2004, the number of schools falling short of the yearly benchmark would have grown from 566 to 1,164. Instead of 81 percent meeting the benchmark, just 61 percent would have succeeded. Last year, 63 percent of schools made the benchmark...

...Had the state not changed the 2003 rules, at least 598 more schools would not have met the mark."

[rodeodance]

1. bush says he is the results president

Bush constantly says he is a President who gets results--this is a great example of how he gets the results.