Who is Minding the Store

Once again another example of good intentions by the federal government getting in the way.  Just as NCLB might have hoped to help students across the country, there is plenty of evidence that the "achievement gap" between haves and have-nots has changed very little, if not gotten worse.  Now, by creating national standards and producing $3.5 billion for "school turnarounds," any Tom, Dick, or Harry can position themselves as "school reformers" and have access to all sorts of federal dollars that may or may not mean true student improvement across the board.  Even more evidence that decisions about education and education spending are best left on the state or, even better, local level.