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Rigidity gives way to reason

The No Child Left Behind Act was widely embraced until federal bureaucrats started wagging their fingers at state educators. Now, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings promises an overdue dose of common sense.

Spellings, who succeeded the combative Rod Paige as President Bush began his second term, declared recently, "It is the results that truly matter, not the bureaucratic way that you get there." She offered concessions in the way states are required to assess students with diagnosed learning disabilities and said she will consider other waivers.

Her conciliatory remarks are aimed at stemming the growing mutiny among states. Legislatures in some 31 states filed bills last year aimed at the federal law, and the list of rebels has been growing. That list includes Texas, the president's home state.

The reason No Child Left Behind is so important is that it forces states to reveal the dirty secrets behind their academic performance. For too long, schools would release only their average test scores, which had masked differences in achievement among students, disparities that tend to break down by race and ethnicity. The law's title is inspired by the notion that no single student should get lost in that game of averages.

Funding aside, the law has suffered mainly from political machismo. Paige often dismissed criticisms as attempts to evade the law, and he refused to allow for the regulatory distinctions that are necessary between states such as New York and Alaska. Florida, with one of the nation's most aggressive accountability systems, failed 77 percent of its schools under the federal law last year, and it could reach 90 percent this year without a waiver. By 2014, all of the schools might fail. What is the value of a law that would fail every school?

[Last modified April 18, 2005, 00:52:13]