Editorial: When progress is a failure

Wednesday, July 26, 2006 | 7:29 a.m.

Clark County teachers and principals are bracing for Thursday's announcement of which schools have, or haven't, made the grade under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The news will be significant for principals whose schools are named for a fourth time to the "needs improvement" list of schools that have not reached standardized testing benchmarks. These administrators could lose their jobs, according to a story published Sunday in the Las Vegas Sun.

But as one elementary school principal told Sun reporter Emily Richmond, the true aggravation is that standardized tests don't show the whole picture, and many times fail to show even a fair one. The North Las Vegas principal said that her students have made unprecedented improvements in reading, writing and math proficiency - many in classes with perfect attendance.

Unfortunately, such gains don't count for much under President Bush's 2002 No Child Left Behind law, which calls for 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2014. Schools that are deemed substandard four times can have their principals replaced. States that fail to pass muster can lose federal education funding.

Schools can earn the dreaded "needs improvement" moniker with the smallest deficiency. One Clark County school was so-named after it failed to meet the test participation requirement because two special education students were absent on test day, Richmond reported.

According to a story by The New York Times, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is threatening to cut federal funding from states that are failing under the law. No state has met all of the criteria, so all could face cuts.

Arbitrary standards, unrealistic deadlines and cuts in funding to already cash-poor school systems are failures, not innovations. That an at-risk school can significantly improve academic proficiency and attendance in a year or two - and still be considered substandard - defies logic.