Congress’ current attempt to “fix” NCLB isn’t going to solve our education woes. The problem isn’t Federal involvement in education policy or the intense focus on testing. It is simply, a lack of political will to address the real issues.
One, poverty is the most significant contributor to our inability to compete in international tests. We won’t fix the problem with education until we address the problems of inequity of opportunity.[i]
Two, we don’t respect and value the teaching profession as we should. Teach for America, with its six weeks training program and two-year commitment, is not the answer.[ii]
Three, throwing money at the problem won’t resolve it, but neither will starving it. Arizona has the highest cuts per pupil in education spending.[iii] Might there be some correlation between that ranking and our being 46th in education performance?[iv]
We can’t fix the problem until we own up to it. Doing otherwise is just political posturing.
Restore Reason 