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The "slippery slope" begins here.... Give in on this issue, and where will the gutting of NCLB end? Virginia's moderate Senators, Democrat Webb and Republican Warner, combine against the Bush Administration on inclusion of ELL students in AYP and school/district accountability for failure. They are joined by a good part of the northern Virginia House delegation. Not a good sign. Forcing (yes, forcing) districts to bring ELL students up to basic proficiency quickly doesn't hurt those students in the least. It does demand that districts move the education of these students to top priority and necessarily disrupts old (comfortable) routines and resource allocations. Please note: this is the point of NCLB - not an unintended consequence! Someone needs to explain that the louder the protest, the greater the sign that the system is being forced to do something it does not want to do (rather than something that is impossible to accomplish), and that therefore the law is working. The Senators need to ask themselves: 2) Who is supposed to benefit from the law - the underserved student who needs to learn English well and fast, or the school district administrator who has managed a system that has never been inclined to serve these kids all that well? 2) What's the evidence on how quicly ELL students can be helped to reach state standards - and under what programs?    more »