How Low Can You Go?

This topic is one of my pet peeves. A piece in Kentucky's Courier Journal describes the No Child Left Behind Act's fatal loophole:

Although students would have to make ''annual yearly progress'' toward proficiency, each state would decide what constituted it.

''If you wanted to win, you would low-ball your definition of 'proficient,' '' John Poggio, a testing expert who advises the Kentucky Board of Education, told board members.

''In other words, the federal law is making every state have standards, but they don't care what they are,'' said Keith Travis, a board member from Central City.

I pointed this out last summer, before the NCLB act passed in Schoolhouse Crock--a cover story for Reason.

Time will tell just how low the standards will go.