The school accountability movement is leaving the nation’s most gifted students behind, according to a report released yesterday by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

The report, "High-Achieving Students in the Era of NCLB," uses scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress to compare changes in the top 10 percent and the bottom 10 percent of students since the introduction of No Child Left Behind.

The evidence against NCLB is overwhelming, so why can’t the government just let local districts manage themselves?

Creative Commons License photo credit: Napalm filled tires

Imprimus is a monthly speech digest published by Hillsdale College, an independent college in Hillsdale, MI. It’s independent in that it doesn’t accept any federal subsidies. Ever. The students don’t even accept federal money to attend school. Why is this relevant? Because your family can have a great deal of input into your child’s college education.

I recently received a reprint of an Imprimus journal from November 2006. This journal contained an excerpt of an article written by Larry Arnn, President of Hillsdale College. The article was entitled “Why the GOP is Flunking Higher Education” and appeared in the Claremont Review of Books in September 2006.

The excerpt in Imprimus that particularly struck me was titled “National Standards and the Danger of Political Correctness”. In this excerpt, the Dr. Arnn refers to something called the ‘Draft Report’ which, as it turns out, is officially titled “A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education“. So, I’ll follow his lead and just refer to this report as ‘Draft Report’

Dr. Arnn discusses one aspect of the Draft Report- national standards. He argues that standards go above and beyond the intent of the original Higher Education Act. He states,

“Charles Murray writes of the No Child Left Behind Act that it has not improved test scores and that it creates an atmosphere of endless drilling, which is poor for learning. And he is probably right. But even worse than the tests’ ineffectiveness and waste of time [emphasis mine] is that they will be expressions of the worst forms of political correctness.”

Although education is not a hot-button topic for most of America this election, those of us with gifted children understand how crucial it is to have an education system that it is efficient and produces the highest ROI possible for our children.

So, before you touch a screen, fill in an oval, or make a ‘hanging chad’ on November 4th, ask yourself, “Does my candidate really propose an education system that will help my child?”

The Broader, Bolder Approach to Education is the product of deliberation by leaders with diverse religious and political affiliations, and experts in the fields of education, social welfare, health, housing, and civil rights. The statement examines areas that research shows must be addressed if we are to keep our promises to all of America’s children.

More than a half century of research has documented a powerful association between social and economic disadvantage and low student achievement. Weakening that association is the fundamental challenge facing America’s education policymakers.

photo credit: lumaxart

I’m glad that other organizations besides the government are beginning to recognize that our system is breaking and needs fixing. It’s an interesting read, so go check it out.

Read the Full Statement

Read what the Iowa Independent has to say about this-
Iowa Independent:: In Wake of NCLB, Gifted Students at Risk of Being Left Behind

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a good article about Advanced Placement. AP classes aren’t exclusively for Gifted students, but AP classes help fill a gap between regular classroom and gifted programs. From the PI article:

The blame begins at the federal level, where the only initiative to specifically address the unique needs of these approximately 3 million students nationwide is the Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act. Since it was passed in 1988, the law has languished in the shadows, producing a congressional appropriation of a paltry $9.7 million for fiscal year 2006. Only half of the states offer additional dollars.

In sharp contrast, Congress allocated $23.7 billion for fiscal year 2006 to fund the No Child Left Behind Act to bring all students up to minimal proficiency. Moreover, when school districts need to pay for after-school tutoring or other remediation, they siphon money from programs for the gifted.

For years, AP classes were considered “untouchable” by school budget cuts. Now, for a variety of reasons, administrators are finding creative ways to cut AP classes from the curriculum. Conveniently, this provides more time to devote to NCLB. I just hope our administrators and legislators wake up and realize the system is broken before it’s too late.