NCLB Reform

Amid calls for a return to more local control as Congress debates the renewal of NCLB, a cautionary tale on local school control. I viewed NCLB as one way to force accountability and wrest control from the teachers' unions, who often dominate locally. Accountability has improved, but performance results have been mixed. In addition, some councils in Chicago have sacrificed learning for power politics. Mary Mitchell, Sun Times on Chicago schools:

In the name of school reform, local school councils with hidden agendas have gotten away with rewarding unqualified principals, while other LSCs have kicked out qualified ones.

What this really illustrates is we need the most local control of all. Who, most of the time, has the true interests of a child at heart?---parents. We need more school choice. At least in Illinois we could start with expanding the mandate for public school charters.

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