Harvard Study Calls for NCLB Changes
Large urban districts serving poor and minority students have disproportionately fallen short of "adequate yearly progress" requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, a study from a prominent civil rights research organization has found.
Released June 24 by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, the study examined the effects of AYP requirements on districts in six states: Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, New York and Virginia. It found that large urban districts have more often been tagged with the law's "in need of improvement" label than other districts. The report recommends changes to the law that would provide more time for improvements to take place, and it calls for including a broader definition of student outcomes in the law.