Schools News Around the Blogosphere

Graduation exams raise special-needs concerns
Washington Times
State schools superintendent calls critics' fears overblown
HARWOOD, Md. | Maryland will this year become the 24th state to require an exit exam for graduation. As the state has slowly phased in its tests, known as the High School Assessments, the national debate continues about them in part because the federal No Child Left Behind law punishes schools that fail to raise test scores.

How NCLB Ignored the Elephant in America's Classroom -- POVERTY
by Jim Trelease
As politician after politician and CEO after CEO have pontificated for 20 years about what is wrong in American schools, all the while offering simple-minded solutions (higher expectations girded by more high-stakes testing), nearly all have ignored the great elephant in the classroom: poverty. Their behavior said, "If we pretend it isn't there, either it will go away or cease to exist." The inherent suggestion in NCLB is that all of that will go away if we just expect more of our teachers and students. That is an insult to both of them and it diminishes the enormity of the problem while doing nothing to solve it.

Under 'No Child' Law, Even Solid Schools Falter
New York Times
By SAM DILLON
Fawzia Keval, the principal of Prairie Elementary in Sacramento, which had not missed a testing target since the No Child Left Behind law took effect. "I'm spending sleepless nights," she said. Required to make a gigantic leap in improving students' test scores, many previously successful schools in California have been sinking.