Education Next – Michael J. Petrilli and Chester E. Finn, Jr.
“A decade ago, U.S. education policies were a mess. It was the classic problem of good intentions gone awry. At the core of the good idea was the commonsense insight that if we want better and more equitable results from our education system, we should set clear expectations for student learning, measure whether our kids are meeting those expectations, and hold schools accountable for their outcomes (mainly gauged in terms of academic achievement). And sure enough, under the No Child Left Behind law, every state in the land mustered academic standards in (at least) reading and math, annual tests in grades 3–8, and some sort of accountability system for their public schools.”(more)