In a Newsday op-ed about NCLB reauthorization, Nancy Close offers serious recommendations for what it would take to achieve NCLB's goals. 

Close, a health teacher in East Islip and president of the East Islip Teachers Association, writes: 

To close the achievement gap and to ensure that, indeed, no child is left behind, Congress must recognize the importance of reducing class size; increase the training and retention of highly qualified teachers; expand access to early childhood education programs; and provide adequate funding for improved school facilities and materials.

She questions the way Congress is going about reauthorization:

While the dedicated teachers in my district embrace accountability and understand the value of fair tests that measure student progress, we are deeply concerned by the apparent rush to reauthorize NCLB. Speeding a revised NCLB through Congress could make a problematic law even worse. It's important that Congress listen to teachers and make sure that, this time, it gets the law right.

Reasonable enough, but Eduwonk doesn't like the lede, something about children not being test scores, and Eduwonk wonders about whether there's anyone who thinks children are test scores.  Fair enough, but isn't the point of that phrase that the law places too much emphasis on test scores? And the wording isn't what's important, is it? 

Let's keep our eyes on what really matters, which is, well, the subject of the op-ed: NCLB reauthorization. And it sounds to me as if she's on the right track.