"As for the lout who said some students are not cut out for college. All I say is please keep your misinformed opinions to yourself. College is for everyone if they want it bad enough."

"The fact that you offer this article in spanish speaks volumes about where you are coming from. There is nothing in the constitution that states that everything in the world has to be the same for everybody, it does however state that we are created equal, what we do with that after we are born is our own business and it is certainly not the job of public employees to intersperse multiculturalism on our children, we live where we live because we choose to (in America) and it is not a finite pie, because one child or group is doing well does not mean that another is being held down, there is plenty ofooportunity for all if people raise their children to succeed eventually they will, it doesn't need to be mandated and if I find out that my child is being told how to raise the flag in the courtyard in a variety of languages, it is time to pull them out."

"There simply is no other option for high-achieving, very bright students to reach their potentials, than to leave public school and enroll in private programs that teach to their level. Period. Our kids completely maxed out on all standardized tests (so therefore weren't adequately measured), were utterly bored and totally disenfranchised by public shool 'teaching to the lowest common denominator'. The ONLY solution is to get out of the public schools."

"In Katy the side of the freeway you live on will determine if you have good teachers or bad. I am on the north side of I-10 and I can tell you that we get the bottom of the barrell in teachers. My son graduated in 2007 and is having a hard time in college. He was not taught how to write a research paper. If you are in advanced courses the teacher drool over you but if you are average, well you are on your own. It is incredible how 3 high schools have high scores on the standardized testing and the other 3 high schools are average or below. We are in the same school district but not all schools are treated equally. Not only do we have bad teachers (not all) but the administration is as incompetent as any government employee can possibly be. The counselors are clueless and the assistant principals are there to be friends with the teachers, not to do what is best for the students. "

"I recently retired from a rather large school system. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I felt surrounded by situations that could have been interpreted as double standards, inconsistencies, and absolute failure to communicate. I grew weary of attempting to follow guidelines that defied plausible explanations! I grew weary of feeling invisible. The school system needs to do more to recognize the needs of the students and teachers! I decided to retire because I felt like I was fighting a losing battle!"

"My daughter went to a private elementary and middle school. Even during this time period I spent hours each week helping her with homework and working with teachers to keep her on track. She moved to a public high school in a new city just this year. I specifically chose a school with low diversity and high rates of accomplishment because it would be more likely to serve a high achiever such as my daughter. What I have found is that she has made friends of many ethnic backgrounds and they share classes (both honors and regular). This is a good result. Unfortunately the school is under increasing pressure to redirect more and more resources to a relatively small number of under-achieving English language learners. So far the principal has stood his ground to not lower standards but I fear that may be coming. I think the No Child Left Behind program is a nice title but the implementation punishes the talented children and will fail to produce the well-educated leaders that our country will need. "

"The fall of Rome was due to fragmenting of their society. Is this not what your 'diversity' propaganda encourages? I personally do not care if or how non-English speaking kids are integrated. I would rather see my tax dollars go to update science labs, or further mathematics in schools than go to funding the bi-lingual schools to educate children of illegal criminals who do not pay taxes or work towards the public good. Instead, they cause a depletion of resources of which they are not entitled to receive. The net result of your misguided agenda is simply that you find it appropriate to dumb down the curriculum so that the stupid students can keep up, hence neglecting the bright ones who truly are America's future. The world needs ditch diggers, factory workers, construction tradesman, and sanitation workers. Reality is simply that not everyone is destined for college. "

"For weeks I was emailing my child's teacher about his progress at Jane Hoop elementary. All I got was his behavior performance. Before school school started I specifically ask the teacher to please let me know about my son's progress. I guess I was not clear. Around Christmas break his teacher said, my son was failing. Now I would have thought the teacher would have let me know about this at the beginning like three weeks into the school. We were emailing each other on a weekly bases. "

"Good evening, I am currently working on my masters in Gifted Education and am interested in obtaining a current District or School plan for educating the Gifted and Talented students. I work for a school district in Colorado with similar demographics and am interested in what you have in place at your school district. Please send any information I can share with my professor. Thank you for your help. Gloria Valenciano-Salazar"

"After about 15 attempts to get through to a counselor and a teacher, I finally contacted the principal/vice pricipal, and immediately he pulled my son s records and discussed what was available for him after school (they call it Right Track) meaning to get the students back on the right track! I like it, but I wish I had known about this type of available help earlier in the year. Otherwise my son would have been in Right Track last year and he would have started out this year as soon as the school began the program! I defintely want him to atten summer classes and to start the years off by going to Right Track again!!!"

"My daughter was accepted in the AVID program for next school year 2008-09 (9th grade) here in Orlando. I don't want her to loose this opportunity and since I will be moving to West Palm Beach during the summer, I need to know if you have this program, thank you, regards"

"I think NCLB should be revisited and reworked as to getting the best effective method working for the students."

"'Do all students have equal access to the most challenging classes or are lower-achieving students grouped in remedial programs?' Why would you place low-achieving students in the most challenging classes? That educational philosophy is what keeps us sending our children to private schools; so they will not be held back. We have found that the success rate of children at private schools who are not high achievers is still very good because of parental involvement being very high. The parents make the sacrifice of ensuring their kids are keeping up. Expectations are high for everyone, and we have never felt our children were being held back, even though our son is a very high achiever. Lowering expectations is certainly not the answer to higher achievement for kids."

"For those replies that share how their children are being held back from learning because they are at an advanced learning level … we should be concerned with the children who are falling behind as well. I have two children – the older who has been in Student Council since third grade of which five years he was President. The other year he was not eligible until he had a year of attendance at the middle school. He is a straight A student. He has been given the opportunity to attend many free Leadership camps because of his abilities. There are classes at the schools he has attended that have certain advanced classes for those kids ahead of the “proficient” kids. My younger son is just as bright as my older son, but he has a learning disability called “ADHD” Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The teachers do not know how to teach these kids. I’ve sent many suggestions to the principle, but never get any solutions/changes on how they can address it. Probably because ! they are trying to deal with all the many types of learning abilities each child has. There are amazingly more children than I thought that are going through the same thing. I don’t leave it up to the school to help my son, because it is not there for him. I keep in constant contact with the teachers regarding homework, grades, etc. They are always very helpful – but don’t know how to cope with my son’s disability – sometimes I don’t either. Most of his work is done outside of school because he has a hard time focusing and being organized while he is in school. So, in actuality, he puts in eight hours at school and then many nights up to 2-3 hours at home instead of taking a break away from school. Eventually he gets behind and gets frustrated and pretty much gives up. Learning comes very easy for my older son and my younger son is working very hard to try to be like him someday. Respectfully submitted."

"As a teacher and a parent, I must agree and disagree. I am very concerned that all children are held to high standards. But I do not believe it is fair to students who struggle in basic classes to be put into advanced classes. It is not fair to the advanced students to have to accommodate struggling students in advanced classes just in the name of equity. My son spends hours upon hours in his fifth grade class (the only 5th grade class in a rural school) waiting for the 'slower' students to catch up before he can proceed. 'No Child Left Behind' means my child too. He's being left behind in that his potential is being hung out to dry in the classroom. No amount of education I do at home can overcome the hours of boredom he spends waiting to learn something challenging. ....I wish I could get an accounting of all the hours of his young life wasted waiting for other students to span the 'gap' he has worked very hard to cross long before anyone else ever got there."

"I'm waiting for a No Child Held Back law. "

"I'm a mother of an overacheiving 7 year old. He is currently enrolled in an immersion prograqm and his biggest problem is bordem. He was one of 58 children out of 800-1000 chosen for this program. I went through this process for him because i knew he was advanced at a young age and needed a challenge. what are schools, and which, are doing anything to help the kids that are advanced. the children who are falling behind get all the attention and help from schools and government but how is anyone really doing anything for the children who will become president, astrounauts,doctors and nobel prize winners? the children who are behind do deserve attention but are they not becoming the standard? some children have the desire to learn and are not supported by the schools because we are so concerned with the ones who dont get it. these children are not going to change the world, are not going to cure cancer, or even begin to bring about world peace. there are a lot of chilren w! ho have that potential and the schools need to tap that potential. parents can only do so much. the kids spend most of their time at school. If i keep teaching my son at home the way weve been doing he will only be further advanced and increasingly more bored at school? what is your suggestion?"

"Why is it that a child has to be on free or reduced lunches to get approved for free tutoring? I don't understand the relationship. My child goes to a school in Kentucky. I tried having him held back to repeat kindergarten since he was unable to sound out a word. They would not allow me to do this. He was 4 when he started school and now that we are almost done with first grade he is reading at a beginning kindergarten level. (I have had him tested for any and all learning disabilities from both a learning center and a child psychologist. ) Tutoring to catch him up is estimated to be over $8000. We pay for lunch.....that does not mean we can afford tutoring too! Furthermore, the school has ever intention of passing him on to 2nd grade. This no child left behind may be what it says, however my child has been LEFT out when it comes to getting a quaility education"

"As the Coordinator of Parent & Community Involvement Programs, I simply must state that this is exactly the type of information parents and community members should be receiving. The Achievement Gap cannot be the responsibility of the schools alone . . . We must all work towards moving this agenda and supporting student achievement by all students. This is a excellent article and I will be adding it to my teaching resources for parents, honestly, parents cannot teach what they do not know; further they cannot evaluate areas of public education with the tools to do so . . . Thank you for this outstanding article. Keep more like these coming forward. We need them to enable our parents and caregivers. In the end our children all win!"

"We took our daughter out of her local public school because so much time was spent 'closing the achievement gap.' This meant that our bright first grader had to sit around and wait for others to catch up with her and waste her day.Luckily we found the Florida Virtual Academy. Florida Virtual Academy has allowed her to progress at an advanced level and not wait for others. We really don't care what other children in her school are doing now. I know her curriculum focuses on what is the right level for her . Closing the achievement gap is hindering advanced children and it's time for schools to realize this. "

"My grandson is doing well, but this year in 3rd grade his teacher does not give him homework that is his level work. This school has a new principal and the school is not up to it's standards."

"I only pray that this does not affect the standard for a higher education. Recently I have spoke to a high school teacher who is changing the way she grades in order to achieve a lower percentage of failure? She mentioned that several lower rating schools are using this to attain more a passing grade... this is not the way it should be, we should have our teacher find the best way to teach so the children understand, not change the grading to help school and class scores for under achievers. If as you say this is acredited, Hispanics and African Americans achieve at a lower standard, get the families involved!!! I work,I'm a mother, a bookkeeper, a house cleaner, a cook, a driver to the schol funtions, my husband works 60+ hours a week and we still make time for the children, if not we find out how and when they can attend classes, group functions or tutoring for their needs. Families of these under achieving students 'MUST' help their children!!! They need to be contacted and made responsible for their children, they must not take the “I don’t care scenario”, “I have no time” or “I don’t understand”... We must make the families and their children responsible; they are the future of our nation. This will help improve our schools, not changing the grading system! In the past years, we as Americans have lost to most all the other countries in attaining a higher level of education, what’s next? America as awhole becomes 'UNDERACHEIVERS!' this would be a said day in America..."

"My son has just entered kindergarden. We chose a house near his new school due to all the great parent reviews and Great School's rating. Each child in his class was tested the first week to see where they were compared to the rest of the class. They have a special needs child in the class with them, and the guidance counselor in addition to the special intervention teacher come in to help the children accept and assist the children integrate with the special needs child. The lesson is 'everyone learns differently'. I have been very impressed with the empathy and inclusiveness that the school's staff has elicited. I hope that this continues in the year's to come. "

"Have you NOT read the GreatScores rating details for various schools? Look at the scores for individual demographic breakdowns. Even lower-rated schools are rated high (usually 10) for academically gifted, children whose parents are well-educated, and children who don't qualify for free lunch programs (i.e. they aren't poor). It would appear that no matter what the school does, if the parents are poor or uneducated the student is likely to struggle. Lesson? It ain't the school, folks - it's YOU as parents that make the difference. "

"Special Education is pathetic in New York State. Every year my daughter falls further and further behind because of the education she is receiving. No one cares because my school district is not a failing school district to all the students but many students are falling through the cracks. What is a parent to do when special education is not helping but hindering?? "

"We live in Missouri. How many times can a child be held back especially if this child has been held back once. He has been diagnosed just recently with a neurological disorder. "

"I have a son who is 11 and has been thrown out of elementary and middle school because he has a behavior problem.He has been misdiagnosed with bipolar and now the doctors say he is odd not bipolar.I relized after schools find out your child has a disability they are not accepted the same as other children who dont have a disability.they just want to hurry and get him out of school.he has missed 3 grades of learning because they dont want to deal with his disability.They seem more worried about his behavior then with his academics.He was placed in a behavior modification school for his behavior where he is doing good, behavior wise but as far as learning he is now three grades behind.I am trying to get him back to his regular school where he can learn,but i feel the school dont want him back.They dont want to give my child a chance to do good and I feel its because they hold his disability against him and feel he won't do wellin a normal school.I hope we are doing the right t! hing by trying to get him back to his regular school.I am so fustrated with the way this school is treating my son."

"This is a good article; however, it doesn't address the situation in the Juvenile Court schools in Alameda County where there are no API. Your site shows that the data are 'NA' because there were not sufficient (11) scores. How can the school get away with that? This is the third year they have not tested their students. When I have asked the county office of education why, they refuse to answer."

"Iam seeking info Re schools in NJ THAT adresses the academically talented African Male 13-14 years, who needs to be in a academic enviroment that affirms his culture, values and challenges him."

"As far as I know, the teachers are now overwelming the students with everything they didn't do during the year. They are cramming them within the last month with projects and reports and tests that probably should have been done way before now! Largo High School get your act together. How can you do this to your students????????????????????"