Update 2: Ed Sector's Kevin Carey quibbles with several aspects of the Tough article. Joe Williams at The Chalkboard muses on the effects of parents flocking to successful schools. Matthew Yglesias writes that "New School" parenting demands a lot of parent time and resources (agreed) and makes kids and parents less happy (not so sure about this).

Update 1: Alexander Russo says I'm a PovRacer instead of a Schoolref.  Who knew? And, Eduwonk guest blogger Jal Mehta reappears at TPM Cafe.

Paul Tough asks the right questions (see how I avoided writing the "tough" questions?) in his New York Times Magazine piece on whether NCLB can close the achievement gap:

But the evidence is becoming difficult to ignore: when educators do succeed at educating poor minority students up to national standards of proficiency, they invariably use methods that are radically different and more intensive than those employed in most American public schools. So as the No Child Left Behind law comes up for reauthorization next year, Americans are facing an increasingly stark choice: is the nation really committed to guaranteeing that all of the country’s students will succeed to the same high level? And if so, how hard are we willing to work, and what resources are we willing to commit, to achieve that goal?

Also check out what CitySue at Edwize has to say about the article. To read about the "word gap" research--between lower and higher income children--that is mentioned in the Tough piece, revisit this 2003 American Educator article by Hart and Risley.  And, if you haven't done so already, take a look at this summary of new research by David Card and Jesse Rothstein, which reminds us that if we really want to narrow the achievement gap, we need to address neighborhood segregation.