February 21, 2015
EVEN THE TIMES MISSES W:
Don't Give Up the Gains in Education (THE EDITORIAL BOARD, FEB. 21, 2015)
When Republicans forced standards on the education bureaucracy liberals hated it. Now there's a "Democrat" in the White House so the Right hates its own victory.Congress made the right decision a decade ago when it required states to administer yearly tests to public school students -- and improve instruction for poor and minority students -- in return for federal education aid.National test data clearly show that since the unpopular No Child Left Behind Act was signed in 2002, academic performance for the country's students has improved and achievement gaps between white and minority children have narrowed. Earlier this month, the Department of Education announced that the nation's high school graduation rate had hit 81 percent, the highest rate ever. [...]The 2002 law required states to give annual math and reading tests in grades three through eight (and once in high school) to ensure that students were making progress and that poor and minority students were being educated. The most important aspect was that it required the states to improve conditions for children in underperforming schools.
Posted by Orrin Judd at February 21, 2015 7:35 PM
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