The performance of high achievers should give policymakers pause, and Mike weighed in on what ESEA reauthorization could mean for top students in an interview with American RadioWorks yesterday.? The Fordham Institute's recent study Do High Flyers Maintain Their Altitude? sparked a discussion on tracking and differentiation in a time of tight budgets, as well as the Senate's proposed NCLB overhaul.? Mike argued that the way the current ESEA reauthorization proposal empowers states may benefit high flyers:
?States will have to decide how much attention they make on the lowest achieving kids making progress versus all kids making progress, and I think there will be more flexibility for states to have a more balanced approach.? They're still going to be required to do testing and they're still going to be required to identify schools that are not serving kids well, but they will be able?if they want to?to balance that and, for example, say, ?Hey, we define a good school as a school that helps all of their kids make? a good amount of progress over time, we're not going to focus exclusively on low achievers.' That's basically what No Child Left Behind has been doing, is focusing exclusively on the low achievers. I do think you're going to see a change there and I think that could be helpful for the cause of the higher achieving kids.?
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-The Education Gadfly
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No Child Left Behind Act