Reforming school reform

Education | Analysts and lawmakers try to rescue No Child Left Behind | Lynn Vincent

Spider webs. Kudzu. Red tape.

It usually takes longer than five years for a federal program to evoke so many creepy metaphors. But Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) used all three in a recent speech at the Heritage Foundation marking the five-year anniversary of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

It is time, Cornyn said, to cut "the red tape and bureaucracy that, kudzu-like, seems to ensnarl the best of intentions by central planners." Cornyn's spider-web allusion came later in his speech.

But as Congress heads into the next reauthorization of NCLB, many educators and policymakers share his concern: that President Bush's vision for accountability-based education reform has slid predictably into the maw of what William Bennett once called the "education blob."