Believe In America.com

butterbean · Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 2271

Affluent children score higher than poor children on standardized tests, and Asians and whites do better than blacks and Latinos.
The No Child Left Behind Act, an education law signed by President Bush in 2002, was supposed to help change that. But as Congress prepares to reconsider the legislation this year, there are few indications that achievement gaps have been shrinking.

In California, middle-class students' performance on state exams continues to exceed poor students' performance at about the same rate as three years ago, according to a report the Policy Analysis for California Education research center released late last year.

The difference persists at all grade levels in elementary and middle school, according to the report.

Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that across the nation in 2004, white teens outperformed their black and Latino counterparts in math and English at roughly the same rate as they did in 1999.

The No Child Left Behind Act, which Congress will revisit this year, requires schools to report test results for populations within a student body including ethnic groups, poor students, students who aren't fluent in English and students with disabilities.

The law sets a target that rises annually for the percentage of students who must be proficient in math and English. Schools that miss that target for two years for any identified student population must make changes that could include replacing all staff.

Pixie Hayward Schickele, who chairs the California Teachers Association's work group on No Child Left Behind, says the law points out a problem - differences in achievement - without providing solutions.

"I like, on one hand, that somebody is saying, `Look at this, and see this, and how can you address this?"' Hayward Schickele said. "But on the other hand, the punitive piece of this is not particularly helpful because I'm not sure anybody knows how to solve the achievement issue."

Local gaps persist

In San Bernardino City Unified, San Bernardino County's largest school district.

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http://www.sbsun.com/ci_4946512