Writers: ED's Civil Rights Efforts Harming Gifted Students

In a Washington Post (12/16) op-ed, Michael J. Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Frederick M. Hess of the American Enterprise Institute criticize President Obama and ED for risking "opportunities for our highest-achieving students," noting, "last year the Education Department's civil rights division announced that it would investigate local school policies that have a 'disparate impact' on poor or minority students - signaling a willingness to go to court if department officials think that school systems have too few of such children in gifted programs or Advanced Placement courses. This bit of social engineering ignores the unseemly reality that advantaged children are statistically more likely to be ready to succeed in tough classes than are low-income children raised in households with fewer books and more television." The writers concede ED's good intentions in seeking to narrow the achievement gap, but lament that its NCLB waiver requirements will do even more to "dilute high-level courses."