Told ya

I got several books at the conference today, including Many Children Left Behind, to which our keynote speaker contributed. I just thought I'd share this as a follow-up on an earlier post.

"Looking at schools in Ohio that have been named as the 2003-04 'Blue Ribbon' high schools under the NCLB standards, we find that when compared to the average high school in Ohio, the State NCLB Blue Ribbon Schools:

- Spend 17 percent more per student than state average per-pupil spending.

- Are not diverse (with fewer than 2 percent minority students compared to a state average of 21.3 percent)

- Have virtually no poor students (2 percent compared with the state's 29 percent)

- Have few special education students (7.7 percent compared to 13.3 percent)

-Pay teachers in excess of $10,000 more than state average

- Have a low student mobility rate (2.4 percent)

What could be clearer than that NCLB standards will most likely be met by well-funded dsitricts with few children of color or special needs? Was this the intent of the law?"