Duncan: Most schools could face 'failing' label
Wednesday, March 9, 2011; 2:13 PM
More than three-fourths of America's public schools could soon be labeled "failing" under a federal formula that relies mainly on annual testing to gauge progress, the Obama administration said Wednesday.
Last year, a little more than a third of schools fell short of targets under the No Child Left Behind law.
The projection from Education Secretary Arne Duncan, which some experts challenged, does not mean schools are headed for an imminent meltdown. But it confirms what educators have long concluded: The typical school will never attain the ideal enshrined in the 2002 law that all students should become proficient in math and reading.
The projection also points to a high-stakes battle over how to define school failure and success as Congress seeks to rewrite a law that is showing its age.
Many educators complain they are unfairly penalized if even a few of their students fill in the wrong bubbles on testing day. Advocates for the poor contend the only way to ensure disadvantaged students get real help is to threaten schools, at minimum, with public shame.
President Obama's solution is to loosen accountability rules for most schools but tighten
