99.9 Percent Bunk

Why NCLB is far from perfect.

As the new school year was about to begin, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings declared that No Child Left Behind was, like Ivory soap, “99.9 percent pure.” The 0.1 percent impurity must be the fact that not a single state made this summer’s deadline to guarantee a “highly qualified” teacher in every classroom.

Spellings’ assertion that NCLB is just about perfect is as absurd as the teacher-quality goal itself. There was no way to accomplish it in four years. Even though the law defines “highly qualified” as a teacher who’s state certified, the process these people go through is flawed. Certification guarantees high quality about as much as a driver’s license guarantees a good driver.

I suggest that legislators adopt the oath of physicians: “First, do no harm.” Those who drafted and approved NCLB should have known enough about education to realize that controversy and confusion would result from setting unachievable goals. Even if the law had been adequately funded and provided significant incentives for states, the goal is unreachable. What follows...