Question about No Child Left Behind

[Catch22Dem]

Does it say "other" can't be listed as a category for race on a school enrollment form? I posted this letter in the lounge, but someone brought the question to my attention, so I thought I'd move it to GD. Mods please delete if not appropriate

Here's the original discussion: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=1194987&mesg_id=1194987
Here's the letter:

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Dear Parents,
Due to changes taking place at the federal level and the requirements of more precision in record keeping we are in the process of updating our student records to better meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind and State testing requirements. For instance, Federal guidelines specifically state rhere will not be a "Multiracial" or "Multiethnic" option as a separate response category.

As a start, we have reclassified all students who were enrolled with an ethnic code of "Other" to "Caucasian". This includes your child Bailey. No action is necessary if you are satisfied with this designation. However, if the designation is incorrect, please check one of the boxes below to indicate the appropriate ethnic category and print your child's name in the space provided.

• Hispanic


• African American


• Asian


• Native American

[Warpy]

1. I guess there's no place for a mixed race child

in a GOP program that insists on segregation.

[Amerpie]

4. Kerry voted for NCLB

and Ted Kennedy helped draft it.

It sucks, but that's politics, right?

[MoonRiver]

6. They thought it would be FUNDED.

If they'd known what a sham * would make out of NCLB, believe me, they would have had nothing to do with it.

[Amerpie]

7. Funding makes excessive testing OK?

Not a flame bait, but do you think the only problem with NCLB is underfunding?

I work in education and I see the design of the bill as fatally flawed for a bunch or reasons. In primary school, experienced and well qualified teacher assistants are retiring and leaving in droves because expensive testing and educational requirements are being forced on them with no increase in compensation. It's not a funding issue, increased compensation was never required.

[MoonRiver]

9. It wasn't a bad idea if schools that failed would have been helped

to get up to par. Testing was only one aspect of the bill. * is trying to destroy public education, and believe me as one who knows, most teachers, principals, support staff etc. in this country have figured this out.

[JM]

2. I think this depends on the state DOE

PA has the following designations

American Indian or Alaska Native
Asian or Pacific Islander
Black or African American(Non-Hispanic)
Hispanic
White (Not Hispanic)

JM

[Amerpie]

3. No child left untested

NCLB requires that children of different ethnicities ( and other qualifiers) be grouped for the purpose of measuring progress. If the group is large enough, then it will be required to meet certain testing goals. Other than race, economic status (judged by eligibility for free and reduced price lunch), physical and mental challenges are also used. In order to meet AYP (acceptable yearly progress) 100% of the groups at a given school must reach their goals.

[Warpy]

5. This is stupid

I have a friend whose kids are half Dutch and half Philippino. Which parent do they reject?

There needs to be a category for "mixed." Nothing else will do

[yella_dawg]

8. Boy!

I'm screwed. Is their a category for "not Asiatic"? I don't think I have any Asiatic ancestors.