Prescribed Failure

[proud2BlibKansan]

By JACK RANDOM

"Welcome to Lake Wobegone where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average."

Garrison Keillor

National media recently reported two major stories regarding education under the weight of No Child Left Behind without drawing the obvious connection between them.

First came the revelation that an estimated 200 administrators and teachers in the Atlanta school district were engaged in cheating to achieve higher scores on standardized testing. Second came a projection by the Department of Education that an astonishing 82% of public schools could fail to meet proficiency targets for the coming year.

The standards of NCLB are constantly moving. To avoid failure a school must record improved test results in reading and math for all its students and in eight subgroups until all students (100%) are considered proficient by 2014. Failure to meet standards by the slightest margin in one subgroup in one academic area is failure overall.

Imagine you're a carpet seller. You make a decent living by selling 3-5 carpets a week. One day your employer decides he needs to clear out his inventory. He implements a No Carpet Left Behind program that requires you to boost your sales by one carpet a week. You work extra hard and boost your sales to seven carpets but no matter what you do you cannot get beyond that number. You've tapped the market. By the fifth week you're a three-time loser and your job is in jeopardy. You realize your boss wants you to fail and there's no way out.

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