No Child Left Behind: Pushes High School Dropout Rates Higher in Texas

The Chronicle of Higher Education takes note of a study that found that No Child Left Behind legislation directly contributes to high school dropout rates by making it advantageous for the schools to get rid of academically troubled students. Local KHOU has a report on this study as well.

The study, by researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin, found that the loss of growing numbers of students actually led to improvements in how public schools were rated by the state. That’s because most of the students who left schools were low-achieving — and a disproportionate share were black or Hispanic, or spoke English as a second language — which meant that their departure led to an increase in the schools’ average test scores and created the appearance that the school was closing the test-score gap between white and minority students.

As school personnel became increasingly focused on the potential positive or negative impact students would have on their institutions’ ratings, they took steps, such as holding back students, which helped raise test scores but also increased the likelihood the affected students would drop out, the study found.

Bush and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings are still defending No Child Left Behind to this very day:

“The No Child Left Behind Act is working. I say that because the Nation’s Report Card says it’s working. Scores are improving, in some instances hitting all-time highs. Children across America are learning. The achievement gap that has long punished underprivileged students is beginning to close. And I’m going to spend a little time talking about that today.” President Bush , September 2007

“We can be proud of the change No Child Left Behind has brought to education in this nation,” said Secretary Spellings. “Because of this law, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have assessment systems, report disaggregated data and target federal resources to serve their neediest students. Now it’s time to build on this momentum by addressing the challenges the law has helped to uncover.” Secretary Spellings , 2/14/08

Well, Bush is claiming Mission Accomplished again. And if we keep up with Secretary Spellings’ idea of “momentum” then the No Child Left Behind Act will have to be renamed to the No Child Left In School Act!