When the No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2002, many hoped it would lead toward a quantum leap forward in education, with its ultimate goal being to make all students proficient at math and reading by 2014. It hasn’t worked out that way. Confronted with ever-escalating and, some say, unrealistic targets, the number of schools “underperforming” under the law is expected to skyrocket this year. Last year, 37 percent of schools were “failing,” according to the act’s guidelines. This year, that figure could go up to 82 percent. Politicians from both sides of the aisle agree the law needs a drastic revamp. “No Child Left Behind is broken, and we need to fix it now,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. “This law has created a thousand ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed.” While Duncan says the law effectively has shown how low-income and minority students lag behind students from more affluent backgrounds (and who typically attend better funded schools), it hasn’t done a very good job of helping schools bridge those gaps. “We should get out of the business of labeling schools as failures and create a new law that is fair and flexible and focused on the schools and students most at risk,” Duncan said. (AP)