Remember Goals 2000?

No Child Left Behind has no shortage of critics, and it may not be reauthorized this year. Vermont’s own Bill Mathis is one of the leading critics of it. In fact, Dr. Mathis, who is superintendent of the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union, has made a second career as an education guru from criticizing NCLB. He and the NEA have sued the federal government over it, claiming that it is an under-funded law.

Speaking of under-funded laws, where were Mathis, the NEA, and the rest of the education crowd when Clinton’s Goals 2000 was being enacted? That law, which launched the development of state standards, has cost millions more dollars than No Child Left Behind. And the federal shortfall has been much greater. Standards development and implementation has been a huge bureaucratic undertaking. The result has been 50 reinventions of the wheel -- and zero accountability being achieved. At least No Child Left Behind has brought about some gains in reading for minority students.

Perhaps the double standard comes from the establishment’s love of Clinton and hatred of Bush. Or perhaps the establishment realized they could control what went into the standards, whereas they cannot control what goes into No Child Left Behind’s standardized tests.

Half of Vermont’s geography standards involve either cultural diversity or environmentalism. These concepts belong, but they shouldn’t dominate. No political agenda should dominate our state standards.

Goals 2000 has left a much worse legacy than No Child Left Behind. It has wasted millions of dollars. And it has accomplished nothing, except to advance a political agenda.


Curt Hier (reprinted from The Vermont Education Report)