Dedicated educators

The Bush administrations No Child Left Behind program is not without flaws and certainly not without critics, but this is a story of a school that chose to embrace the principles rather than fight them.

IT'S ONE THING to say "No Child Left Behind," it's another to mean it.

With 50 percent of its students once performing below grade level, Chipman Middle School in Alameda held a comfortable spot on California's list of low-performing schools. It would have been easy to stay there, too, had the school's educators decided not to make a change and give their students an actual chance.

Since implementing its program, Chipman students have shown dramatic improvement and the teachers and administrators there should be proud. Laura Bush stopped by on Thursday to congratulate them.