Austin schools have been in the news recently. The No Child Left Behind tests say the schools don’t meet federal standards.

No Child Left Behind is a bankrupt education program and has lost all relevance. It may be the law, but NCLB rights no wrongs, corrects no inaccuracies, and helps no citizens.

The fact is, even if only a few Austin students miss the grade on one section of the test, NCLB would label Austin schools as failing.

NCLB standards are rigged so every school in Minnesota will fail by 2014. Indeed, on Wednesday the state announced that half have already failed to meet program standards.

NCLB relies on a standardized test that is conducted in May.

Unfortunately, this process has shone a light on the inadequacies of the special education testing. This year, special education students in more than 444 schools failed the NCLB test, showing that there may be something wrong with the test, not the students.

A study by Macalester College and Minnesota 2020 found that teachers find NCLB onerous. They see art, library, physical education, foreign language, technology arts and extracurricular activities taken away in favor of NCLB’s insatiable demand on math, reading and science.

Until lawmakers radically overhaul this disastrous program, parents, teachers and every Minnesotan should ignore these ridiculous results and learn about their schools the old-fashioned way, by walking into the school and talking to the teachers and administrators.

John Fitzgerald,

Minnesota 2020 fellow

Matt Entenza,

Minnesota 2020 founder and board chairman