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Can Irrational Become Unconstitutional? NCLB’s 100% Presuppositions

Publisher: Excellence and Equity in Education, vol. 38
Pages: 171-179

This article identifies two presuppositions underlying No Child Left Behind’s (NCLB) system of adequate yearly progress. The first is that each state must bring 100% of its students up to proficiency on state tests by the 2013–14 school year. The second is that each student’s test score must effectively be treated by the state as if his or her school were 100% responsible for that score. The article demonstrates that these two 100% presuppositions are unsupportable and then explores the NCLB rules in the context of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, which prohibits the government from arbitrary exercises of power.

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