On washingtonpost.com there is more news about the No Child Left Behind Law. In Fairfax, a group of educators have put Virginia into a debate about the best way to test kids who speak English as a second language. They want to see that these kids are treatly fairly.
The Fairfax County School Board last night defied the U.S. Department of Education -- and challenged the No Child Left Behind Act -- by declining to force thousands of immigrant students to take a federally mandated test because local educators think it is unfair.
Fairfax school officials said they will continue to test how well those students are learning to read, speak and write English and will report those results. But this year they will not, as the federal government requires, give the students reading exams that cover the same grade-level material as tests taken by peers who are native-English speakers.
"It is wrong for our students to take a test they are predisposed to fail," said board member Phillip A. Niedzielski-Eichner (Providence). "We will continue to test their proficiency twice a year and continue to move them forward as quickly as possible. This resolution is not, by any stretch, an attempt to shy away from accountability."
It comes down to doing what is right for the children. Many kids will give up if the task seems too hard. Imagine taking a test in a language you are just beginning to learn. In the rush to make sure no child is left behind, are the politicians really looking at what works for individual children? Does anyone disagree that children learn at different rates? If they do, they haven't been around very many children.