Leave
No Gifted Child Behind
by Susan Goodkin
Washington Post
12/27/05
"Conspicuously missing from the debate over the No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
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."
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GIFTED EDUCATION
Gifted students - there are about 3 million in the US - are not getting
what they need from the public education system. Programs for the
gifted are
disappearing in districts across the country because of budget cuts,
shifting priorities and, some allege, because of the federal "No
Child Left Behind" act.
Critics of "No Child Left Behind" claim that the law's emphasis
on the lowest performing students is leading districts to ignore gifted
children. NCLB's defenders say that schools are making excuses for
not helping all children. We take a look at one district in rural
Illinois that has cut its gifted program and the community is fighting
to get it back.
produced by Tira Grey |
