This letter to the editor by the Secretary's Regional Representative Foxley appeared in the Salem Statesman Journal on January 21, 2007.

Karen Utley's Jan. 8 column ("'No Child' is one act in government theater") was quite theatrical itself. Filled with drama, it lurched from Adolf Hitler to the Emperor's New Clothes in an attempt to make the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) seem like a crime against humanity.

The truth is far less dramatic.

NCLB simply guarantees that we'll do everything possible to give every student a quality education. That's why Congress passed it with bipartisan support more than five years ago. It's not "unrealistic," unless you believe that students cannot learn to read and do math at grade level. It's not "complicated," unless you believe that holding schools accountable for improving academic performance is too much to ask.

Today, under NCLB, academic standards are set by the state, not the federal government. All students are measured, and scores are separated by student group so we can clearly see the progress being made. According to the Nation's Report Card, the achievement gaps between African-American and Hispanic 9-year-olds and their peers have fallen to all-time lows in many categories. More reading progress has been made in five years than in the previous 28 years combined.

In other words, NCLB is working, and more children are learning. That's no act, that's a fact.

Donna Foxley
Secretary's Regional Representative, Region X
Seattle, WA