The Great Education Game

The rationale for standards-based reform was that expectations would become more rigorous and uniform, but states' proficiency tests vary "wildly" in difficulty, "with 'passing scores' ranging from the 6th percentile to the 77th." Indeed, "half of the reported improvement in reading, and 70 percent of the reported improvement in mathematics, appear idiosyncratic to the state test." In some states, tests have become more demanding; but in twice as many states, the tests in at least two grades have become easier. NCLB encourages schools to concentrate their efforts on the relatively small number of students near the state test's proficiency minimum -- the students who can most help the state meet its "adequate yearly progress" requirements.

So says George Will in a recent column that does a hatchet job on NCLB. Click here for an excerpt and link to the complete column.

It begins to look as though the states game the NCLB categories so that, just as in Lake Wobegon, "every child is above average."

Will bases his column, in part, on a recent report ("The Proficiency Illusion") from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. For the full report, click here.

If NCLB really is all a question of manipulating tests and test results, what is Maine doing? Is Maine playing the game? Or is Maine sincerely pursuing a better education for its students through the mechanism of NCLB? Is it just other states who are cynical?