Criticism of NCLB

For the sake of full disclosure, I favor the "No Child Left Behind" law. My belief is that standardized testing at least establishes a baseline of data which allows for corrective action to be directed to problem areas.

From CNN.com:

As schools open this week, 47 states are in some "stage of rebellion" against the 3-year-old policy, according to a study by the Civil Society Institute, a nonpartisan advocacy group.

My first reaction was a furrowed brow. Rebellion? This is the first I've heard of it. My second reaction was skepticism along with a curiosity regarding who did the survey. So I decided to do some research on the Civil Society Institute.

Well, guess what? The Civil Society Institute (CSI) may be nonpartisan but they surely are not non-ideological. In fact, there's evidence to indicate that CSI is closely tied to the Open Society Institute, a creation of George Soros. For those that don't know, George Soros also funds MoveOn.org and under no illusions can he be considered nonpartisan in his beliefs or actions. Arguably, he could be the most devout Bush-hater on Earth.

But there's more, Soros also funds Results For America! which is a subtier spinoff of CSI. Under CSI and Results For America is an entity called NCLBGrassroots.org which started and currently spearheads the rebellion to have NCLB overturned. So, the people who started the rebellion have now reported that they found it after performing a "study."

And, there's even more. The President of CSI, Pam Solo, is also a devout crusader against NCLB. In September of last year and most likely before CSI conducted its "study," Solo said that there is "mounting evidence that NCLB has a noble name, but that its merits as social policy begin and end there." Therefore, it appears that the woman who honchos the whole effort for CSI had her mind made up about the outcome of the "study" long before it was performed.

I can't take the "study" by the Civil Society Institute seriously. What CSI did was collect data of instances where someone has pissed and moaned about standardized testing and declared that it had found evidence of a rebellion. On a positive note, I did find one thing about the CSI "study" that seems solid. It smells.

In conclusion, CSI is a leftist political organ tied to George Soros and it is disingenuous for CNN or any other media organization to describe them as merely a nonpartisan advocacy. Anything that comes out of CSI is going to have a hard left slant.