No Child Left Behind Except for the Gifted Ones

A dark cloud in the national test results:

What about the concern that the federal law, by focusing on students at the lower end of the achievement range, will give educators incentives to ignore top-performing pupils? Here the news is mixed. In reading, there's disturbing evidence that our top students are stalling; those at the 90th percentile lost ground in both 4th and 8th grades since 2003. In math, however, students at all levels showed progress. This is something to watch in future years. While closing the achievement gap is a priority, so is closing the "economic-competitiveness" gap with other nations. We can't afford to zap the talent of our most gifted kids.

When the definitive history of education in the latter half of the 20th century is written, it will no doubt note how the shaft was routinely given to gifted students in the name of "fairness".

Home schooling is looking like a better and better option, given the inability of public school teachers to deal with and challenge the best and brightest among their students.

Far better to medicate them to the point of numbness.