No Child Left Behind Falls Short

One of my favorite quotes comes from the economist Robert Lucas. I have heard it in a couple of different ways, but the jist of it is, "Once you begin studying the problem as to why some are rich and others poor it is difficult to think seriously about any other issue in economics." Lucas eventually ended up founding a new (and intuitively dubious) school of macroeconomics, namely "rational expectationism." Regardless, the main thrust of his academic career has been that nothing is more important than human capital. I tend to whole-heartedly agree, which is why today's news on testing results is so unfortunate:

The first nationwide test to permit an appraisal of President Bush's signature education law rendered mixed results on Wednesday, with even some supporters of the law expressing disappointment.

Math scores were up slightly but eighth-grade reading showed a decline, and there was only modest progress toward closing the achievement gap between white and minority students, which is one of the Bush administration's primary goals. In many categories, the results indicated, the gap remains as wide as it was in the early 1990's.

By some measures, students were making greater gains before the law was put into effect.

Obviously this is something that we are going to have to give some time (though I was not saying that this summer, but I do stand by all my assertions in that entry) to see if NCLB is working or not.

I truly hope that a couple of bad years will not prompt aimlessly righteous Democrats to dismantle all the good ideas of NCLB for no other reason that retaining the Teacher's Union vote. We'll just have to wait and see.

-Mr. Alec

PS I think I should get bonus points for being the only person not to make fun of NCLB with the title of this post.