…and i’ll find me a soapbox where i can shout it

It seems like every week a new survey is put out describing how horrible our educational system in America has become.  What strikes me as interesting about the survey mentioned in the article “Grades Rise, but Reading Skills Do Not” in the February 23 New York Times is that although test results are much worse than they were fifteen years ago, grade point averages are on the increase.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, an exam commonly known as the nation’s report card, found that the reading skills of 12th graders tested in 2005 were significantly worse than those of students in 1992, when a comparable test was first given, and essentially flat since students previously took the exam in 2002.

So what does this mean?  From personal experience, assigning grades in High School can be pretty random and completely different from one class to the next.  There are teachers who weigh their tests very heavily, while others allow class participation and extra credit assignments as a way to boost grades.  The ladder would be an explanation for the nation’s rising G.P.A., a statistic that is turning more and more irrelevant each day.

What implications does a survey like this have about No Child Left Behind?  The Bush Administration sees it as proof that schools are not measuring up.

“The consensus for strengthening our high schools has never been stronger,” Margaret Spellings, the secretary of education, said in a statement released in advance of the report. “Schools must prepare students to succeed in college and the 21st-century work force.”

The reaction is a typical political response.  What frustrates me is the fact that test results are not any better than they were in 2002, and this fact does not even seem to be acknowledged.  All of this leads me to an important question that I feel needs to start being asked:  How many years will we allow Washington to hold schools accountable for their lack of improvement before we start to question whether NCLB is a failed policy?  I understand this question may sound uninformed because there are many opinions against the legislation, but it seems like those who support NCLB are able to comfortably hide behind it and pass the blame to the schools when results are not as they hoped.  How long can this continue without seeing signs of improvement?