Brodie, for S&G;purposes, I'll wade into this issue. Any govt program is usually underwhelming no matter how laudable its goals. Look at all the programs under LBJ. No winners there. Unless govt becomes even more intrusive in the lives of people to replace bad parenting and destructive living habits don't expect the children to do it on their own. Secondly, unless there is more emphasis on basic math, language, reading, and reasoning skills at the earliest ages and reinforced throughout problems will be passed along until kids face graduation. In Washington State, the big test is the WASL. It was suppose to be the criteria hurdle to graduation. Since too many kids flunked the math part, they are doing away with that part of the test. Having had two kids go through public school from K-12, I found myself having to teach the basics of what the system left out. My son graduated #1 in a HS of 1800. My daughter also has never had a B on her report cards. The issue is multifaceted with no one cause or solution. The Jonh Stossel report on 20-20 was very illuminating. Per capita we spend as much as any country on education and get the worse possible return on investment. My suggestion is to begin at the beginning at the K grade and revamp the process.

my wife is a teacher of challenged students. she says we need to teach children on a level that they can understand. we need to do school like sports. we cannot all be stars but we can learn to our level and be on the team. we are pulling the good students down and confusing the challenged children. we need to be practical and see the real world before we ruin our school system.

Hey Brodie,

As an 8-year member of a Wyoming school board, and the parent of three Wyo public school graduates (forgive me if I leave out a list of their academic achievements - which seems to be a qualification for writing on this subject), I actually appreciate the soul-searching and hard work that NCLB forced districts like mine to undergo. The goal of 100% success is indeed unachievable, but that will be modified - and it seems necessary, even while recognizing the different learning styles and cognitive abilities of children, to distinguish achievement in core learning areas. You do that by testing - which is oppressive sometimes because states (which create their own evaluation tools) are often inept and indecisive and political when it comes to setting standards.

Since it's a federal mandate, we express outrage that there are not more federal $$$ behind it. But there will never be enough, and we should expect in our deficit-plagued near future federal funding shortfalls on everything from pencils to body armor. I would put the critical emphasis elsewhere: on the hallowed local control of education. Local trustees too often do not provide strong leadership for achievement in learning - they are frequently good ol boy/girl types who needed something to do with their time, and generally think their schools are just fine thank you, as long as the football team is winning. And while the teachers who feel over-taxed by NCLB are often smart, hard-working people, there are among them also - because of the way we train, and certify, and pay them - teachers who are not the best or the brightest people to take on the daunting challenge of teaching our children. (Now that should elicit a few comments...)

If we start providing better pay and better training, we'll attract the teachers who can attain many of the laudable goals of NCLB. As for the quality of local school boards (and state education departments), there is no instant solution. More federal control is rarely the answer. Perhaps we parents and citizens could do a better job of finding and electing trustees with high aspirations and a willingness to take on the challenge - and set goals for our children that are above, not below, any federal or state mandate.

Good for the teachers. The NCLB Act is NOT fixable and needs to be REPEALED. The NCLB Act was designed to take down public schools and teachers anyway. I am glad teachers are getting sick and tired of this insane act and standing up for students, other teachers, and this country.

And yes, it is pathetic the salary teachers get paid.

Lastly, it is the publishing companies who put together those high stakes tests and those scripted lessons who profit, not our students.

Glad this article was written. I say, "Follow the money." Kids have been USED for far too long to line the pockets of those who don't really give one hoot about anyone else except buying another mansion, another unnecessary car, another ..... to fill their empty lives, because they have a poor self-concept and no integrity.

Geoff, you missed the mark as to the purpose of citing personal experience. My purpose was to show what is achievable with attention to basics that fell into disfavor by the public institutional process over the last 30+ years.

This topic usually leads to much emotional grandstanding and fingering pointing that leaves all the glass broken in the room. If attention is given to curriculum, process, accountability, and visibility of results beginning at the K grade perhaps the answers will be found. Then a $$$ can be assigned to the fix.

As a student I believe that it did not work. I am from a district that already had testing and was one fo the highest ranked schools in the nation. With the no Child left behind act I had more to study and became not only more confused but had more stress put onto me. I was not able to focus. Ia m lucky that I was able to pass but the thing is as a student I learned no more than waht the teacher had already taught me and I had to re learn everything six different ways.

I'm a public school teacher. I support NCLB. The emphasis on testing is the only known antidote to the progressive blather that has allowed teachers to fail to teach for decades, all the while mouthing high-minded platitudes. It was their failure--stunning and vast and undeniable--that evoked NCLB.

The high school where I teach recently failed to make AYP. This led to a faculty meeting at which the topic of discussion was how to raise the reading comprehension of high school students.

It had been perfectly obvious that many high school students were functionally illiterate, but nothing was being done about it, amid the usual whining about bad parenting and inadequate elementary schools and cultures that didn't support learning and the 16 hours a day kids are not in school.

The teachers unions will try to gut NCLB--removing any measures that might make a difference while leaving as much money as possible to be spent unaccountably--and they will probably succeed. We are, increasingly, an ignorant tribe of barbarians.