No Child Left Behind

Jack brought home his final report card from first grade yesterday. He's done well in school and his teacher said she really enjoyed having him in class. (I suspect she shared more than one "Jack story" in the teacher's lounge over the course of the year.)

We're very proud of him for his end-of-year state tests. He scored 58/58 on language arts and 54/55 on math. The tests were administered as part of the No Child Left Behind initiative, which is now officially a part of our lives and a defining factor in the education Jack will participate in.

So I should probably pay more attention.

Up until now, my opinions about NCLB have been fairly superficial (although look at me bandying about an acronym like I'm in the know!). It sounds good in theory, but nightmarish in practice. I worry that schools will just teach to testing more than ever. I worry that we'll all just end up striving for mediocrity. I worry that smart, creative teachers will just start running away screaming. I worry that it will just cost lots and lots of money for little, if any, return. I worry that the struggling students we're trying to help will end up being hurt because we're under the (possibly false?) impression that NCLB is the solution.

What do you all think of NCLB? What should I know about it as a public school parent? What, if anything, needs to change? And as a parent and a citizen, how can I help that process along?

In a related story: The other day Publisher's Weekly ran a story about children's author Patricia Polacco who was uninvited to speak at the International Reading Association's national conference because she refused to censor her remarks against NCLB. Apparently a key sponsor was SRA/McGraw Hill, a company in the business of publishing NCLB tests (perhaps the very tests Jack took) (http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6334219.html). You can also visit her website at http://www.patriciapolacco.com.