Good NCLB Letter in Washington Post

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

PUTTING "NEIGHBORHOOD" BACK IN SCHOOLS

Washington Post Letters-to-the-Editor
June 18, 2007

I read with interest Education Secretary Margaret Spelling's June 9 
op-ed, "A National Test We Don't Need." Ms. Spellings was right that 
states and localities are the ones that design the curriculum and pay 
most of the education bills. She was also correct that states and local 
school districts have historically had the primary leadership role in 
public education. That's why it's so hard to understand why she keeps 
promoting the No Child Left Behind law's top-down approach to education.

The law has hamstrung state and local decision making by establishing a 
federal accountability system that measures and punishes students and 
schools on the basis of, among other things, annual high-stakes 
standardized testing. This is the wrong approach, and the groundswell of 
opposition to the law -- from parents, educators and administrators 
alike -- shows just how flawed it is. As Congress prepares to consider 
reauthorizing No Child Left Behind, we should listen to Ms. Spellings 
when she says, "Neighborhood schools deserve neighborhood leadership, 
not dictates from bureaucrats thousands of miles away."

Russ Feingold
U.S. Senator (D-Wis.)