Left out, not just behind

By Jim Waters

Since its inception, holding schools accountable for educating our children has been the principle focus of President Bush's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act. As a consequence, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has responded to this nationwide challenge by insisting that most learning-disabled students be left out of the process altogether.

As outrageous as this may sound, KDE's strategy is seemingly designed to avoid reporting the academic performances of children with learning disabilities. Why? So parents of these children will not discover the degree to which Kentucky public schools are failing to properly educate their children who happen to have learning disabilities.

We question KDE's priorities. Should it function to protect the woeful academic reputation of some of its schools? Or, should it uncover obstacles to genuine achievement that advance their academic rigorousness?

A recently released report by the Bluegrass Institute, "CATS: An inadequate NCLB basis for school improvement" asserts that KDE's policies resulted in no NCLB protection for about half - or around 50,000 - learning-disabled public school students in the state during 2004.

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