States are helping public schools escape potential penalties by skirting the No Child Left Behind law's requirement that students of all races must show annual academic progress.
With the federal government's permission, schools deliberately aren't counting the test scores of nearly 2 million students when they report progress by racial groups, an Associated Press computer analysis found.
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. [emphasis mine]
I can understand why schools would go along with this subterfuge. They're already strapped for money. They don't need federal fines for falling short in testing. But what will we tell the children? Why do they have to take an exam which will be thrown away?
Overall, AP found that about 1.9 million students — or about 1 in every 14 test scores — aren't being counted under the law's racial categories. Minorities are seven times as likely to have their scores excluded as whites, the analysis showed.
Does this matter, really? You bet your sweet ass it does. There is absolutely no incentive to pull the poorer students up. Let them fail. Let them leave school with practically no education. It keeps the minorities from improving their lot. It keeps minorities in their place. That's compassionate conservatism at work.
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