Writing in today's Washington Post, Gerald Bracey argues that NAEP proficiency levels are set too high and that the resulting high failure rate paves the way for people "to do to your public schools things you would otherwise never allow."

He's right.  We've made the point about NAEP proficiency levels before. And plenty of politicians and ideologues are using the "failing schools" rhetoric to push for things that won't help teaching and learning.

But doesn't similar hype drive lots of good policies?  "Failing schools" might  generate the political will to bring about universal early childhood education.  It's hard to get there if you say, "The kids are all right.  We could do better, though, if we spent extra money to improve early childhood education."

And which strategy gets the millage passed?  "Our school buildings are in decent shape, but they need a lot of maintenance and we should probably do something now rather than in a few years."  Or "The roof is falling!  The roof is falling!"

Getting people to change or getting them to crack open their wallets sometimes requires that cold, hard facts be stirred up with a little hyperbole.  That may be unfortunate, but it's a fact of life.