06.09.08

There was always something slightly insane about No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the ambitious education law often described as the Bush administration's signature domestic achievement. For one thing, in the view of many educators, the law's 2014 goal - which calls for all public school students in grades 4 through 8 to be achieving on grade level in reading and math - is something no educational system anywhere on earth has ever accomplished. Even more unrealistic: every kid (except for 3% with serious handicaps or other issues) is supposed to be achieving on grade level every year, climbing in lockstep up an ever more challenging ladder. This flies in the face of all sorts of research showing that children start off in different places academically and grow at different rates.