Predictably, the administration is claiming that the 2007 national test results (NAEP) support No Child Left Behind. They don't.  

In a press release issued Sept. 24, 2007, Education Secretary Spellings points out that reading scores for fourth grade English learners on a national test (the NAEP)  "jumped an unprecedented 20 points between 2000 and 2005."

USA Today's interview with Margaret Spellings (August 30) has the heading "NCLB is working, but it's a `journey'". This heading is incorrect. Study after study has shown that NCLB is not working.

Once again, Secretary of Education Spellings has taken advantage of a research report to make false claims about No Child Left Behind (NCLB). In a press release (July 24), commenting on a Center of Education Policy report that showed that more school time is now devoted to reading and math and less to other subjects, Spellings again claims that the achievement gap is closing, and that scores for reading for nine year olds are at a 28 year high.

The media has been filled with reports of serious
ethical problems related to the Department of
Education's administration of Reading First. Yet, the
claim that Reading First is working is accepted at
face value.  It should not be.

Welcome to the new America where the Pentagon pays private firms to provide aggregate personal information on your kids, collects it via No Child Left Behind, as well as outsources the datamining to a private firm... all with the intention of marketing their product... join the military... to children deemed "high prospects".

And guess what... you, as a parent, can't "opt out" of this data collection project. Oh sure, your kids info will go into a "suppression file", but they'll continue to collect the information and maintain the data... and still provide it to recruiters...

Welcome to George OrWell's America.