The allegations against Clarkston School District curriculum director James Fry are relatively confusing for those not familiar with education terminology, but basically, he is accused of manipulating the numbers of limited-English speaking students so they wouldn't be counted as a subgroup under No Child Left Behind.
Depending on how well students do on the state standardized test, schools will either meet or fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress under the law that was passed during the Bush administration. Students are also divided into several subgroups -- Hispanic, students with disabilities, limited-English proficiency -- and each subgroup must also perform well on the test for schools to receive federal funding for programs like Title I. By allegedly manipulating student subgroups, Fry and other administrators allegedly allowed limited-English speaking students to avoid taking the state standardized test.
Students in subgroups generally score lower on state standardized tests, so allowing them to skip the test would potentially help the school's Adequate Yearly Progress ranking. Fry was a principal of Canutillo High School, which is just northwest of the border city of El Paso, Texas. The city sees a large amount of immigrants from Mexico, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Since its inception, however, No Child Left Behind has been the subject of controversy. Several states, including Texas, are seeking waivers from certain aspects of the law. Idaho had its waiver approved last year.
If you are interested in reading it, I've also attached a copy of the Texas Education Agency report to this post.
