In a diverse suburb just outside Chicago, Evanston Township High School officials are thinking about pulling out of NCLB, "saying that the financial benefits might not be worth the trouble." Though the school would still be held accountable to Illinois' "less stringent penalties if students do not meet standards," it would likely not be required to disaggregate student scores as NCLB requires, and could "avoid having to offer private tutoring or to allow students to transfer to higher-achieving districts if the school does not reach state testing goals." That would, however, be bad news for some students at Evanston Township High School. According to the Chicago Tribune, the school "didn't make adequate progress because not enough African American and low-income students passed reading and math tests." So while it's not clear that the celebrated school is adequately educating all of its students, thanks to its whopping $46 million annual budget, Evanston has the luxury of opting its high school out of NCLB. School board member Jane Colleton jokingly proposed having a bake sale to make up the $80,000-$90,000 the school would lose in Title I dollars. "There are so many people who don't like No Child Left Behind. We can get a lot of teachers to bake and buy," she quipped. "We might be able to make up that money."
"Evanston school may quit 'No Child'," by Jodi S. Cohen and Lisa Black, Chicago Tribune, February 23, 2004