Judicial Activism and NCLB

Star-Telegram | 01/04/2006 | Schools win in appeal, regain compliant status

Ya know, I had this turn up in my Google news RSS feed for a reference to my old high school, but the actual story itself struck me as another data point for why NCLB is a total joke:

Richland and Birdville high schools now meet federal standards for improving student performance.

In August, the Texas Education Agency determined that the schools had failed to meet adequate yearly progress, a federal standard that aims to make all students proficient in English and math by the 2013-14 school year.

Both Birdville school district high schools missed adequate yearly progress because less than 95 percent of students in certain groups took the math exam. Richland High missed the mark by three Hispanic students. At Birdville High, it was one economically disadvantaged student and one special-education student. But the district filed an appeal, which was approved by the state.

Birdville High has 1,865 students and Richland has 2,104, according to the district.

As part of its appeal, Birdville provided documentation to the state about why those students were absent, spokesman Mark Thomas said.