No Child -- And the Latest Lost Decade | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

No Child -- And the Latest Lost Decade | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Despite federal k-12 spending rising from $27 billion in 2001, the year before NCLB, to $38 billion in 2011, reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — the so-called “Nation’s Report Card” — have either been stagnant, or grown at slower rates than many periods before No Child.'

'education bureaucrats around the country created wildly varying tests, definitions of “proficiency,” and played lots of other tricks that have made it nearly impossible to know if a child is truly proficient, or just so labeled by a system dodging punishment.

There’s also a serious question of whether rising test scores for historic strugglers have reflected increasing knowledge or just better testing strategies.'