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		Past Extra Credits May 13 All issues

In honor of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision that outlawed segregation in America's schools, Secretary of Education Rod Paige and other department officials are visiting schools around the country, celebrating their accomplishments in providing a quality education for all their students. The following are excerpts from various articles covering the visits:

"Larimore Elementary School students, teachers and parents have a school that works, U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige said Thursday during his visit there. 'Walk into a classroom, and you can feel the love from the teacher for the students,' Paige said. 'You have good teachers, a good school, a good principal. We want all schools to be great schools.' Paige visited Larimore, which is in the Hazelwood School District, on his way to Topeka, Kan., for the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that declared segregation in schools illegal."   (The entire article is available from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch online archives for a fee) (May 13, 2004).

"Secretary Paige spoke to the students at Larimore Elementary School about the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. That landmark ruling declared segregated schools illegal, 'Brown is the first step. It opened the door, it gave access. Now, No Child Left Behind is about ... excellence.' " KSDK-TV NBC 5 (May 13, 2004).

"A Bush administration education official paid a visit to Eugene's Westmoreland Elementary School on Monday to praise its staff and students for high achievement. Ken Meyer, a deputy assistant secretary with the U.S. Department of Education, said Westmoreland's example proves that even schools with low-income, ethnically diverse and highly mobile student populations can succeed under the tough new standards of No Child Left Behind, the cornerstone of President Bush's education platform. 'A school like this kind of pops up on the radar screen as, 'Here's a school that's doing things right, " said Meyer. ... While the Brown vs. Board decision guaranteed every child an education, No Child Left Behind takes it a step further, he said, by taking on the so-called achievement gap that separates well-off and primarily white students from their poor and minority counterparts." (May 11, 2004).

"It's been 50 years since the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision that desegregated U.S. schools. In honor of that historic decision, a Cedar Rapids school is being recognized for closing the achievement gap between white and minority students. More than half the kids at Polk Elementary school are minorities. And many of them ... also live in poverty. But Thursday was about showing off to the federal government the huge strides they've made in academic achievement. Celia Sims with the U.S. Department of Education learns from students as she learns about them. ... Paula Vincent is the Cedar Rapids Associate Superintendent and says, 'Certainly this is one of our schools where we have a great deal of students from every kind of background, so it's a great place to see where we've come from in public education.' "KWWL-TV NBC 7 (May 13, 2004).