The No Child Left Behind law is supposed to address "the soft bigotry of low expectations," by holding schools and teachers accountable for teaching all children, regardless of their race, home language, learning style, gender, economic status, etc.

So in these early years of NCLB implementation, the focus of everyone who cares about kids and their educational success needs to be on whether it is moving our educational systems in that direction.

For those many observers who suspect that the law's momentum is instead taking us to unexpected and unwanted destinations, research from Jennifer Booher-Jennings, a doctoral student at Columbia University in New York, provides grim support.

Booher-Jennings looked at how NCLB's focus on "data-driven decision making" is playing out in an urban elementary school in Texas. In an article in Phi Delta Kappa International, "Rationing Education in an Era of Accountability," Booher-Jennings explains in excruciating detail how teachers at the school are taught to sort students according to a cruel calculus: Kids who are in no danger of failing their achievement tests are labeled "green", which means teachers should not expend any extra energy or teaching effort on them. Kids who are so far behind that they cannot reasonably be expected to catch up in time to pass the test are labeled "red," which means teachers also should not expend any extra energy or attention on them. Also labeled "red": kids who enter school late enough in the year that they won't have to take the tests that year. Finally, kids who are lagging behind but close enough that, with help, they have a good shot at passing the test, are labelled "yellow." These are the children to whom teachers are urged to direct their attention.

And there's more: kids in "subgroups" too small to be counted in a school's testing results -- in the case of this particular school, that includes special education students -- also get dumped in the red bin.

The worst thing is that this perverse system, guaranteed to turn gifted students into bored under-achievers and struggling students into irredeemable failures by about third grade, works -- at least in the terms of NCLB measurements. It's a heartbreaking example of how dangerous it can be to let numbers alone drive policy -- especially when the numbers are stand-ins for real children.