Hyperbole - Thy Name is Piche

I expected the debate over House Education Committee Chairman George Miller’s draft NCLB bill to be shrill and exaggerated at times, but the civil rights groups are leading the way in the doomsayers/Chicken Little race. “Dianne M. Piché, executive director of the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights, said the bill had ‘the potential to set back accountability by years, if not decades,’” reports the New York Times.

Can she or her members seriously believe that Miller’s NCLB refinements will “set back [educational] accountability by decades?” It’s a pity that they can’t be more constructive during this policy development cycle, though I suppose it is more of a shame that such leaders confuse assessments and accountability as an end to itself, and not as a means to improve schools.