Close NCLB’s “blatant loopholes,” says education journalist

 Congressional leaders have finally acknowledged what most observers have known for months: The No Child Left Behind Act, the signature domestic legislation of the Bush administration, will not be reauthorized in the foreseeable future. And it should not be, at least not until the law’s blatant loopholes are addressed. The truth that no one in power seems willing to admit is that the federal law encourages statistical manipulations that make reports of academic progress suspect and, in some cases, virtually meaningless. Read what John Merrow, a Peabody Award-winning television journalist for PBS’ “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” has to say in Education Week.