They finally noticed!

A Commentary column in the November 29 Education Week is interesting because of what it says -- but also because this is news! Are Americans so used to being fooled by advertisers that we just don't notice anymore?

The article, entitled, 'Proficiency for All' is an Oxymoron, brings up a topic that policymakers have pretended, for far too long, not to notice -- human variability. Here's a key paragraph:

But no goal can be both challenging to and achievable by all students across the achievement distribution. Standards can either be minimal and present little challenge to typical students, or challenging and unattainable by below-average students. No standard can simultaneously do both—hence the oxymoron—but that is what the No Child Left Behind law requires.

You know, we could have told them that a long time ago -- if they'd asked.