Not a fan of NCLB

Let's face it…. Politicians cannot even balance the budget. How can they realistically expect to understand what the requirements are to reform education? What would happen if parents raising children taught them to balance their budget like politicians balance the budget by print more money. Education is complicated and dynamic… much more so than the annual budget. The budget deals with dollars and programs and education deals with people lives and providing opportunities fore learning and developing life skills. We need a fresh approach to make education more successful in America and politicians aren't going to cut it. We need the voice of students, parents and teachers to be heard and taken into consideration.
Seriously, a recent report just concluded we aren't really sure how to define student proficiency in achievement given the recognized number of biases that openly exist.

Here is a snippet from Education Weekly …..http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.htmlIn response, the U.S. Department of Education commissioned yet another study, this one by the National Academy of Education. The panel concluded that procedures for defining proficiency were "subject to large biases," and that levels by which American students had been judged deficient were "unreasonably high." Continued use of NAEP proficiency definitions could set back the cause of education reform because it would harm the credibility of NAEP itself, the panel warned.

"Proficiency for all, implying the elimination of variation within socioeconomic groups, is inconceivable. Closing achievement gaps, implying the elimination of variation between socioeconomic groups, is daunting but worth striving for."http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/11/29/13rothstein.h26.html