Myth: No Child Left Behind
Hurts “Gifted” Kids

Here’s a recent example of this view from an op-ed article in the December 27, 2005 issue of The Washington Post and subsequently reprinted in many newspapers around the country:

            “Conspicuously missing from the debate over the No Child Left Behind Act is a discussion of how it has hurt many of our most capable children. By forcing schools to focus their time and funding almost entirely on bringing low-achieving students up to proficiency, NCLB sacrifices the education of the gifted students who will become our future biomedical researchers, computer engineers and other scientific leaders.”

            The writer's argument is that because NCLB’s primary focus is on bringing children up to a minimum standard, it must by its very nature discourage teachers from helping gifted children achieve at higher levels. 
            There is little evidence to support this argument. For as long as there have been schools there have been plenty of anecdotes about very bright kids who feel stifled and unchallenged by the schools they attend. Whether there are more or fewer such kids after No Child Left Behind is impossible to tell.
            The little evidence we do have, however, says the opposite – fourth-graders and eighth-graders who are in the top 10 percent of performers in math improved their scores significantly from 2000 to 2005, particularly in fourth grade, where average scores improved from 265 to 273 – almost a full grade level. (Nation’s Report Card, Mathematics 2005). That hasn’t been true in reading, where the scores for the top 10 percent of kids have remained flat, but definitely the kids who score in the top ten percent of students in math have reached higher, not lower, levels in the last few years.
            It is important to remember that the purpose of No Child Left Behind and its primary funding mechanism, Title I, is to provide the additional resources needed to educate students in high-poverty schools and to make sure that states, districts, and schools educate children equitably to grade-appropriate standards. It requires that all students, including children who traditionally have been neglected by schools – poor children, children of color, children with disabilities, and children learning English – be   brought up to at least state standards in reading and math. But it is provides a floor, not a ceiling, and was never designed as a comprehensive program for schools. Certainly no school should be in the business of stifling children’s creativity and passion for learning, and No Child Left Behind should not be used as an excuse to do so.
            Nothing in No Child Left Behind forbids or even discourages schools from helping students be “biomedical researchers, computer engineers, and other scientific leaders.” In fact, schools that aim high are more likely to have a higher percentage of their students meet those minimum proficiency standards.
            For example, at Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School in Elmont, New York, teachers and administrators have as their goal not that students pass the New York Regents exams but that they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to successfully graduate from college. As a result, just about all their students pass the Regents exams, most at a high level, and 97 percent go on to college, most to four-year colleges.
            At Centennial Place Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia, the faculty doesn’t expect students to meet state standards but exceed them, and they teach exciting, interesting content with lots of projects and very few worksheets. As a result, just about all of the school’s students meet state standards and more than half exceed them. (Pictured: Centennial Place Elementary Orchestra)
      
These and other schools demonstrate that that in order to meet No Child Left Behind requirements there is no need for schools to teach only the basics.

(For information about Elmont, Centennial, and other schools that are meeting No Child Left Behind requirements, go to www.achievementalliance.org and look under “Success Stories.”)