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Folk interested in this issue might want to read the original press 
release from EdSource <http://www.edsource.org/pre_rel_hrp05.cfm>
or the Executive Summary of the report
http://www.edsource.org/pdf/SimStu05ExecSumm.pdf

Although they did not seem to contain anything that directly contradicts 
the LA Times article, they give a very different overall impression.

I think the most interesting point that was glossed over in the LA Times 
article is that the sample of schools was drawn from K-5 schools in the 
25th to 35th percentile band of the state’s 2003–04 School 
Characteristics Index (a composite index made up of many student 
demographic factors and a few school characteristics.)

So the conclusions may well prove useful for California K-5 schools in 
the 25th to 35th percentile band, but they should not be applied to U.S. 
schools in general, California schools, or even all California K-5 schools.



>>------------------------------------------------------------------
>>From the October 26th issue of the LA Times
>>
>>Parents' Involvement Not Key to Student Progress, Study Finds
>>Report on standardized testing in lower-income schools disputes
>>conventional wisdom.
>>

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