Billions of federal dollars are spent on education each year, and no taxpayer wants to see this investment wasted.  When federal dollars are being spent, it’s entirely appropriate to demand results for the investment. There must be a real focus on the bottom line, which in this case, is directing limited dollars to improve academic results for children whose states are identified as falling behind. This is a federal role that all conservatives and liberals should be able to get behind. 

The government can also exercise accountability without the federal mandates of NCLB that were disliked by many school systems—and those mandates must go. But it remains in the national interest for progress to be measured for all students. The results should be released, and parents and taxpayers should be told the truth about our education system. Finally, schools must take action to help students and groups of students that are falling behind the academic goals set by states.