No Child Left Behind? In Mississippi and other poor, rural areas, whole schools are left behind

As Congress debates changes to the No Child Left Behind Act, Peter Whoriskey of The Washington Post reports from rural northwest Mississippi that whole schools are still getting left behind.

The Post looked at scores on reading and math tests, and went to the lowest-ranking school in the lowest-ranking state: Como Elementary School in Mississippi. It is exactly the type of school that the law was supposed to help, "but in Como and other poor, rural districts around the country, the law's regimen of testing and sanctions has had little, if any, effect," writes Whoriskey, who also took the photo, below, of Como students. (Encarta map)

"Despite abysmal test scores, Como earned a passing grade under No Child Left Behind, largely because the standards of student proficiency, which are determined individually by the states, have been set so low in Mississippi. Its small size also exempts it from some standards. The resulting passing grade -- it makes 'adequate yearly progress' -- has exempted Como Elementary from any of the corrective actions dictated by the law."

The law requires schools to have "highly qualified teachers," but Whoriskey reports, "Places such as Como face critical difficulties in attracting any teachers at all. The location is remote, the salaries are low, and its at-risk students are arguably more difficult to teach. More than a third of Como's 32 teachers are new this year, and five of those have been hired with an 'emergency license' because they lack full teacher training. At least three of the new teachers had been dismissed or released from other schools. One resigned after just a few weeks when he was found hiding from the third-graders in his class who were throwing papers at him." (Read more)