The following op-ed appeared in the January 8, 2012 edition of
the Washington Post. Ten years ago today, President Bush signed
the No Child Left Behind Act. The law has improved American
education in some ways, but it also still has flaws that need to
be fixed. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) for the first time exposed
achievement gaps and created a conversation about how to close
them. The law has held schools accountable for the performance
of all students no matter their race, income level, English-
proficiency or disability. Schools can no longer point to
average scores while hiding an achievement gap that is morally
unacceptable and economically unsustainable. But NCLB has
significant flaws. It created an artificial goal of proficiency
that encouraged states to set low standards to make it easier
for students to meet the goal. The act’s emphasis on test scores
as the primary measure of school performance has narrowed the
curriculum, and the one-size-fits-all accountability system has
mislabeled schools as fai