Open-Minded or Empty-Headed?

Spellings continues her never-ending road show to pump up support for NCLB's not-so-stealthy privatization plan. In Pittsburgh last week, she offered more lies: "I'm open-minded to different methods of measuring success. . . . We have to have different types of test elements for special education learners."

Let's do a quick inventory of Spellings' compromises to date:

• ELL students get a year to learn English before they are tested the same as native speakers

• only 97% of impaired students must be tested, instead of 99%

• 2 states out of 50 are allowed to experiment with growth model testing for academic gains.

With this kind of open-mindedness, there is nothing for the ed industry to worry about: the manufactured failure of the public schools is slated to continue undeterred.