Tennessee and Georgia schools will have more failing schools in the coming year as states toughen testing standards under the federal No Child Left Behind act, officials say.
Already, both states now list about a quarter of schools as failing. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan predicts 82 percent of the nation’s schools could have that same designation when another round of standardized test results are released this fall.
Testifying before Congress this week, Duncan said that, based on his calculations, students increasingly won’t be able to achieve the lofty benchmarks established by President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act.
The act sets requirements for achievement in reading, math and language arts, as well as graduation rates. Those requirements get tougher over time, and schools that don’t meet them, even if they show some improvement, are penalized. No Child Left Behind seeks to have 100 percent of students performing to standards by 2014.
Instead, Georgia and Tennessee schools fall farther and farther behind each year, figures show, as the states increase requirements.