I have watched as brave leaders of public schools have stood up one by one to be counted in opposition to the absurd requirements of NCLB. Testing ESL students after one year, on an English reading test. ?!

After reading Marc Fisher’s article in The Washington Post on Fairfax’s fight with the US Dept. of Education’s testing of English Language Learners, I have new hope for the future of education.

So, now I have a new set of heroes. Besides Jim Henson and Bill Cosby I have:

Billy Canaday, Superintendent of Virginia Public Schools for understanding that his school systems are trying to do the right thing.
Mark Emblidge, President of Virginia’s Board of Education
For backing all of Virginia’s school systems and working to create a system that works, based on high standards that honors individual differences.
And now, Jack Dale, superintendent of Fairfax County Schools for just saying, “No.”

Here is why:

In the next couple of weeks, either Dale or the U.S. government will blink. Until then, threats and counterthreats are flying across the Potomac. Dale, backed up by his school board and several other Northern Virginia superintendents, insists he will not require newly arrived immigrant children to take the same reading test that other kids take. And the feds reply: Oh, yes, you will — and if you don’t, you’ll lose $17 million in federal dollars.

Now that is courage.