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John Van Hecke, Minnesota 2020

We have another reminder that the conservative public policy fix is in. The Minnesota Department of Education recently released No Child Left Behind mandated school testing results (CAUTION: LARGE Excel file), noting a slight increase in test scores.

Buried in the press release, the MDE states that "the number of schools and districts that will not be making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2008 will increase." In other words, even though Commissioner Alice Seagren is telling us that things are better, they're actually worse.

Schools making AYP is like a gambler beating the house. It's not going to happen, particularly over time.

The No Child Left Behind federal educational act establishes a rising performance standard. Every public school must achieve a 100% performance rate by 2014, an impossible goal masking a more subversive conservative public educational policy goal.

But more on that in a moment.

Reading the MDE's report, I did what every parent does and immediately clicked on my kids' school's performance. I took the first step down the slippery slope of policy concession. Even thought I know that the NCLB tests are designed to undermine and destabilize public education's credibility, I clicked on that link.

The St Paul Public Schools MCA-II test results statement reads "(SPPS), like districts across Minnesota, saw mixed results. However, some SPPS student subgroups outperformed their peers across the state. As was the case in Reading scores throughout the state, SPPS students' Reading test results increased slightly. In Math, the District saw gains in four student subgroups."

My local school district is clearly caught between a rock and a hard place. Their statement's cool tenor suggests that they don't care for NCLB's test performance mandate but, facing compliance requirements, have few alternatives. St Paul's schools are, like districts across Minnesota, putting lipstick on the pig.

But don't take my word for it. Listen to District 112 Superintendent Dave Jennings, a former Republican Speaker of the Minnesota State House of Representatives, is an articulate, persuasive and fearless opponent of NCLB. In a Minnesota 2020 interview last year, he made the case that he's been making for years: NCLB is poor public educational policy. Click the link to watch it.

Even before the MCA-II tests, our neighborhood elementary school was a top citywide test performer. That hasn't changed. We have high parent involvement, extremely low teacher turnover and an engaged, supportive community. Regretfully, not every school enjoys the same advantages.

Poverty, race, class, family-educational traditions and expectations, English proficiency and nutrition factor into school test performance. NCLB, however, is relentless and, within several years, will declare every public school a failure.

That "failure" carries a high cost. Schools lose federal education funds or have them redirected into private tutoring programs, programs that, I might add, are not improving student test performance. The net result is systematic school defunding.

Don't be suckered by triumphant Minnesota Department of Education press releases. They are the equivalent of a casino's free drinks, distracting gamblers from the real business at hand: taking your money for themselves.

Instead, let's embrace real accountability. Let's invest in Minnesota's schools, opt-out of No Child Left Behind and educate our kids for a fast-moving future. Public educational policy should move Minnesota forward, not create failure.