Students Displaced by Storms Score Lower on State Tests

States can no longer exclude hurricane victims from NCLB accountability frame.

Gulf Coast students who were displaced to other states last year by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita scored significantly lower on state tests than their peers in those new states, according to data released by several states that took in large numbers of such students.

That outcome was expected. Federal education officials announced earlier this year that six states would get a reprieve from the No Child Left Behind Act for the 2005-06 school year when it came to counting the test scores of students displaced by the hurricanes. The waiver allowed those states to separate displaced students into their own subgroup that would not count toward making adequate yearly progress, or AYP, under the federal law.

But federal officials said last week that the waiver was a one-time deal. States will not be granted the same flexibility for the current school year, said Hudson La Force, a senior counselor to U.S. Secretary...