Lewiston’s growing number of immigrant students and No Child Left Behind are on a collision course, which could seriously damage city schools and make the federal measurements meaningless.

The problem is simple: As more students cannot meet stricter benchmarks, Lewiston schools will receive more failing assessments. Meanwhile, the results produced by No Child Left Behind are inaccurate, as demographic realities have skewed the data.

For example, Pettingill School is regarded as an academic leader for its test scores. This has led some parents to switch their kids into Pettingill from others – like Montello School – without such lofty scores.

Yet these perceptions ignore the differences in each school’s student body, while claiming to reflect its educational environment. Montello, with many English Language Learning students, suffers against the blanket nature of the standardized tests.

So does Pettingill. Although its test scores are higher, they are not indicative of superior instruction. Parents and educators should be unsure if their children or students are excelling because of their school’s quality, or because their school is better suited for the test than its peers.

Then consider Longley School, with Lewiston’s lowest scores. This also reflects its demography, which puts its testing performance at a disadvantage.

Montello and Longley are not “bad schools” because their test scores are low. Conversely, Pettingill and Martel School, are not “good schools” because their test scores are higher. If the reasons for these assessments are extracurricular, it’s flawed to use them as true measurements of their abilities to educate.

A better system of evaluating schools under No Child Left Behind must be found, to stop these unrealistic standards from holding sway.

Neither parents nor students nor educators are served by evaluating schools with meaningless measurements.

Fixing NCLB should concern Maine’s congressional delegation. Sen. Olympia Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins already support reforms suggested in a 2005 study by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Included in NCSL’s 43 recommendations are specific provisions for evaluating English Language Learners, and ditching “one-size-fits-all” standards in favor of more individualized measures. They are sorely needed.

As leaving federal policies unchanged would only leave Lewiston, given its expected growth of immigrant students, grappling with the perceptions of its “good” and “bad” schools.

Eventually, nobody will know which one is which.