NCLB and the Gifted

From today's NYT: "No Child Left Behind? Ask the Gifted"

Mostly a fluff piece about an immigration field trip by a group of NJ fifth-graders, it mentions how NCLB has forced districts to refocus their budgets on the low end of the educational spectrum, leaving kids on the other end to fend for themselves.

"A new study by the Center on Education Policy found that the federal law put so much emphasis on reading and math, there has been a reduction in teaching history, science and the arts. And that appears to have affected field trips.

Peter O'Connell, who runs the educational program at the national park in Lowell, Mass., just completed a survey of school visits to 10 history museums in New England, including Old Sturbridge Village and Plimoth Plantation. He found a 20 percent decline in student visits in the last few years. "Schools aren't devoting as much time to history, especially urban districts," Dr. O'Connell said."