It is highly likely that the "mandate" of NCLB will shortly disappear into the depths of historical foolishness. High School dropout rates have always been much higher then anticipated but we never looked at the true number(s).

I'm surprised that the Feds didn't require a reduction in teacher pay in order to cover the costs of NCLB -- equally foolish things have been done in the past.

Good story. Keep up the outstanding reporting.

NCLB, while a flawed piece of legislation, has provided a set of data that is useful as the national mission to prepare our children to compete in the Global economy.

The goal is obvious, lower the cost of providing quality education to all, regardless of the economics of the individual. The macro solution is to use technology more effectively and expand the learning context outside of "these four walls".

The Internet and cheap computers have created new business models in every section of society except education. There are some signs that this is about to change, excellent teaching and tutoring systems are being developed to allow a qualified teacher to focus on curriculum development, special needs and student centric activities.

The educational system is an amazing asset to our society to impede the advancement of public education would be to deny a civil right to students who are being underserved by the current model.

NCLB has nothing to do with "education" and everything to do with forcing good educators into becoming parrots. Teach the test, teach the test, teach the test. What if the Real World doesnt ask about the test?

Let teachers teach

in case someone's interested in the whole scale ridiculousness of NCLB - let me refer you to this article in harpers magazine: Web Link