That's one heck of a tough question that the next president - whether McCain or Obama - will eventually have to answer. Fordham's Mike Petrilli is trying to help out with a few suggestions. In an op-ed in the Washington Times today he tells leaders to "turn NCLB on its head." He suggests they loosen parts of the law that are excessively tight and tighten parts that are way too loose. Sound like a bad prom dress from the 80s? Not exactly. He lays out a very interesting solution. Mike writes:
Right now, NCLB micromanages the formula and timelines by which schools are labeled and sanctioned, yet it allows states total discretion over the academic standards and tests used to judge schools (and kids) in the first place. These should be flipped. Provide incentives for states to sign up for rigorous nationwide (not federal) standards and tests. Make the results of this testing publicly available, sliced every which way by school and group. But then allow states and districts (or private entities, such as GreatSchools.net) to devise their own school labels and ratings - and let them decide what to do with schools that need help.