NCLB’s escape hatch for schools
Report cast doubt on Arne Duncan's dire prediction
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It’s become a truism: Nearly every school will likely fail No Child Left Behind’s requirement that 100 percent of students be proficient in reading and math by 2014.
Politicians recite that reflexively. I’ve said it myself.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in calling for immediate reform of the law, upped the ante in testimony to Congress last month: 82 percent of the nation’s schools will fail to meet their proficiency goals this year – an increase of 45 percentage points over last year, he said. Challenged about the accuracy of the prediction, Duncan stuck to it in comments to
