I can't think, but I can take a test

Today I read GOP Chairman Ed Gillespie's blog. He leads with an Associated Press story on the progress of the states in complying with No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The Education Commission of the States reports significant progress in state attempts to adhere to NCLB requirements. According to the report, "Most states have met or are at least on the way to meeting 75 percent of the major requirements of the No Child Left Behind law."

While the report is not exactly glowing, it does indicate substantial state progress towards national compliance with NCLB's rigorous accountability and testing standards. Should the states progress in implementing the standards and assessments portions of the legislation be regarded as a success for No Child Left Behind?

Yes and no. The results show that states are struggling valiantly to comply with the legislation. They show nothing about the relative value of the policy itself. In fact, though most states have implemented standardized testing procedures that will give them a snapshot of student achievement levels, they do not have plans for achieving the Adequate Yearly Progress goals, or for installing Highly Qualified Teachers in core curriculum. According to the report, "Not a single state is on pace to fulfill the law's requirement of having a measurable way to ensure a highly qualified teacher will be in every core academic class in 2005-06."

Federal funding for state education hangs in the balance. This has caused many States to cast a calculating eye on the feasibility of continuing to participate in the mandate. Minnesota's Office of the Legislative Auditor reviewed NCLB in February. Among its major findings was:

While most education officials in Minnesota embrace the underlying goals of NCLB, many school district superintendents believe that NCLB is costly, unrealistic, and punitive.

and,

Even if Minnesota students’ math and reading test scores improve significantly in coming years, there will likely be large increases in the number of schools failing to make “adequate yearly progress” (AYP), as defined by NCLB. More than 80 percent of Minnesota elementary schools would not make AYP by 2014, according to a simulation conducted for our office, and many of these schools would face the prospect of restructuring or other serious sanctions prescribed by NCLB

This would result in potentially massive school failure. Minnesota is not alone in this.

USA Today reports that 9 states are pursuing legislation that would allow them to opt out of NCLB. They list two reasons, one is ideological and the other practical. On the ideological level, many republicans view NCLB as an unwelcome intrusion by the federal government into local control of education. However, the largest barrier to success for NCLB may be that it is based on an unworkable business model: States face financial sanctions for failing to meet impossibly high standards. Why would any good businessman or policy maker spend money to lose money?

Aside from the ideological and business issues, there is the open question of whether NCLB will actually result in a more well-rounded, better educated graduate. Fairtest says that although the legislation lays out worthy goals, the value of the education it delivers is reduced:

The gauge of student progress in most states will be reduced to reading and math test scores. Many schools will narrow instruction to what is tested. Education will be damaged, especially in low-income and minority schools, as students are coached to pass a test rather than learning a rich curriculum to prepare them for life in the 21st century.

There is broad concern across the political spectrum over a law that Jim Dillard, the Republican chairman of Virginia's House Education Committee calls,"utopian nonsense.", NEA members are writing and releasing protest songs and educational organizations like Fairtest question the kind of graduate this brave new world might produce.

Even so, the news that the states are complying with NCLB squares with the Republican vision of an electorate in unthinking ideological lockstep with its platform. For Gillespie and the rest of the leadership in the process of foisting this destructive policy on our children, evidence of conformity equals successful policy.