Marshall Smith, Bruce Fuller:

Proponents of No Child Left Behind – including the odd couple of President Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – received uplifting news last month: The nation’s fourth-graders had finally stirred on federal tests, showing gains in reading and math. Eighth-graders saw little progress in reading, but they did experience an uptick in math.
The news reached Capitol Hill in the nick of time, as Bush and Democratic leaders struggle to renew Washington’s controversial education reforms. No Child adherents had waited five long years – and spent more than $90 billion – before seeing these tepid yet encouraging results.
Still, Bush’s signature domestic policy is in deep political trouble, and even its Democratic sponsors continue to ignore its fundamental flaws.
Some business groups side with Bush and Pelosi, urging quick renewal and even tougher love for local educators, such as tying teacher pay to student learning curves.
But two recent polls reveal that a majority of Americans believe that No Child should be rewritten or simply scrapped, and are worried that the law is narrowing what children are taught and forcing them to spend countless hours getting ready for nonstop tests.
Support for No Child is weakest among suburban Democrats and independent voters, a fact not lost on Sen. Hillary Clinton and other presidential candidates who now speak harshly against the law.
Politics aside, is this massive federal experiment boosting children’s achievement beyond the long-running benefits of states’ own accountability programs, which focus on helping teachers instead of dinging them? Evidence to date suggests the answer is no.