From the Washington Post:

A school in suburban Maryland that serves medically fragile students with severe physical and cognitive disabilities has been put on a state watch list of underperforming schools, even though its reading and math scores were on target. The problem: poor attendance.

Experts say the dilemma of Stephen Knolls School in Montgomery County highlights the way students with disabilities can get caught in the politics of the federal No Child Left Behind Law.

The dispute offers “a classic case of how well-intentioned federal policy has gone awry,” said Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. “This district is earnestly trying to follow the spirit of the No Child law.”

Related story from the Houston Chronicle:

The number of underperforming school districts in Texas has more than doubled this year to 399, or about one-third of Texas school districts. The Houston district is among them.

“We are concerned,” Texas Education Agency spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said of the increase in schools and districts not meeting the standards. “But this year, with the new special education requirements, we have more students in the testing pool, and it’s just going to take some time to work on those levels.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 9:41 pm and is filed under No Child Left Behind, disabilities, special education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post