But it seemed like such a great plan! I...I'm dumbstruck. And this is just the first of a four-part MSNBC series.
More than four years after President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, nearly 2 million children’s test scores aren’t being counted under the law’s required racial categories. An Associated Press review found states are exploiting a legal loophole that is giving a false picture of academic progress. The law also is creating financial gain for some private consultants, and leaving teachers increasingly skeptical that all children will be able to read and perform math as promised.
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Minorities — who historically haven’t fared as well as whites in testing — make up the vast majority of students whose scores are being excluded, AP found. And the numbers have been rising....
“The states aren’t hiding the fact that they’re gaming the system,” said Dianne Piche, executive director of the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights, a group that supports No Child Left Behind. “When you do the math ... you see that far from this law being too burdensome and too onerous, there are all sorts of loopholes.”
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