Good Effects of NCLB

See this article, which begins:

Last school year, about 900 Bibb County students with disabilities were learning in isolated classrooms.

The students were almost never exposed to the general curriculum or the general student population. But with demands to meet the mandates of No Child Left Behind legislation growing - all students must pass state exams at their grade level by 2014 - the school system is changing that thinking.

Now, instead of separating those students, the school system is focused on including them more often in the typical classroom.

Only about 165 students learn in self-contained rooms now, said Philip Mellor, director of special education for Bibb County schools. More than half of students with disabilities spend 80 percent of the school day taking regular classes with their peers from a lead teacher, while a special education teacher assists.

"When you put students with disabilities with typically developing peers, they generally do better," Mellor said. "It's a better model."

The inclusion model will improve learning, state test scores and self-esteem among students with disabilities, Mellor said. It also may lead more of the 2,900 students with disabilities to graduate and earn a regular high school diploma, he added.