No Nation Left Behind.

Just two years ago, the Congress passed a slogan into law. "No Child Left Behind" was the masterstroke formula for success that long eluded educators--a regime of tough sanctions for those who fail to make adequate yearly progress toward perfection within a dozen years.

Having written a few laws myself in my previous work, I admit I fell in with the skeptics. Then I read Acting Deputy Secretary for Education Eugene Hickok's sage comment: "Human nature being what it is, when one's shortcomings are made visible, it's easy to understand somebody being bothered. And this law is all about exposing shortcomings."

Maybe Hickok's right. Perhaps perfection's only obstacle is our own craven anxiety.

Eliminating Flaws

So let's face up to all our shortcomings and use the next decade to solve the nation's problems. To prod us toward a more perfect Union, I propose a national report card called "No Nation Left Behind." Here's how it would work.

In addition to NCLB reporting, we'd rate our country on making adequate yearly progress toward flawlessness by 2013 in the following categories.

* Eliminate the national deficit. Our nation is spending about $521 billion more per year than it takes in. In school districts, this would be a no-no. Let's get back in 10 years the surplus we lost in two. (No cheating allowed by ignoring the tax cuts or the costs of occupying Iraq.)

* Provide universal health care. International comparisons of student achievement are commonplace. Let's do likewise for health care. Among industrialized nations, the United States alone lacks health coverage for all its citizens. According to the American Medical Association, some 43.6 million Americans lack adequate health care. Let's insure 4.5 million new Americans every year for the next 10 years.

* Reduce pollution emissions to zero. On the subject of international comparisons, the United States, unlike 55 other nations, signed but never ratified the Kyoto Protocol to reduce pollution. Everyone but the tobacco lobby agrees that polluted air is bad, so Kyoto or no, let's agree to reduce all smokestack and auto emissions to zero by 2013.

* Enact tax cuts for the rest of us. Economist Paul Krugman notes, "Taxes that fall mainly on middle-income Americans, like the payroll tax, are still near historic highs." While taxes like the corporate profits tax and personal income tax, which Krugman says are "mostly paid by the richest 5 percent of families ... now take a smaller share of national income than in any year since World War II." Ouch. I wondered why that $600 refund check didn't really feel like my share of $800 billion in tax cuts. Still, taxes are bad, so let's work on reducing them to zero for everyone over the next 10 years.

* Eradicate the trade imbalance. Every economist knows that trade imbalances erode economies. Our country's imbalance just reached a historic high--$489 billion. Egad! Let's reduce our trade imbalance to $0 in 10 years.

* Prop up the falling dollar. And let's not reduce that trade imbalance just on paper by letting the dollar continue to fall. A strong currency is a symbol of a strong economy. For Americans to be proud, our currency must be strong. Let's increase the value of the dollar back to its record high of just two years ago against the euro of Old Europe.

Simplistic Answers

Enough satire. Obviously, the fact that a problem is easy to measure does not mean that it is easy to solve. The things easy to measure are all effects, not causes. Thus, pointing out complexities or flaws in simplistic solutions like NCLB (as AASA has over the past year) is not avoidance. Quite the opposite. How can any problem be meaningfully fixed without honestly addressing its true nature? To shrilly demonstrate shortcomings, as our critics have, is far easier than to advance systemic solutions.

Here's one to start. Given the strong inverse relationship between poverty and performance, it would seem the elimination of childhood poverty, or at the very least its effects, would be the first step in any reasoned education reform initiative. I, for one, would be more than happy to give back my $600 tax gimmick to underwrite that effort, though I suspect it won't be enough. I wonder how many in Krugman's top 5 percent would be willing to join me?

The No Nation Left Behind list may be important and may be easily measured, but I'm not under the illusion that even the newly created problems will be solved in a decade. After all, it's been almost 30 years and Washington still hasn't found a way to keep its measly promise to fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act at 40 percent. Maybe by 2013.

Tom Rogers is executive director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, 7 Elk St., Albany, NY 12207. E-mail: [e-mail]