Fairfax vs. 'No Child' Standoff Heats Up

Students such as Felobateer and his eighth-grade classmates, all recent immigrants who are learning English as a second language, are at the center of an intensifying dispute between Virginia schools and the U.S. Department of Education over testing requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Fairfax County school officials are protesting a federal mandate to give most English learners reading tests that mirror those taken by their native-speaking peers. Tonight, the school system is taking a major step toward challenging that mandate and the federal law.

School board member Phillip A. Niedzielski-Eichner (Providence), backed by other members and school administrators, plans to propose a resolution that would authorize officials to refuse to give immigrant students tests that they think most would fail.