ijusluvit - Congratulations....I was just testing to see if anyone was paying attention. Really, thank you. I stand absolutely corrected. It was Garfield and I knew that. In an extemporaneous senior moment, I mixed up my assassinated presidents. My bad. We actually have a summer home not far from the oceanfront cottage where Garfield died of his wounds at the Jersey shore. In fact we have occasionally visited the site including very recently.

Regarding your reference to our differing political perspectives....I have tried to be logical, grounded in history and tempered with life experience in my posting style. My perspective, according to credible polling data seems to put me in the mainstream of current political thinking. Go figure.

VK - Once again your articulate and thought provoking post is appreciated. I also believe this legislation is influenced more for political considerations and only incidentally addresses meaningful improvements to educational processes.

Bucco - Thank you. I agree with your observation that the performance of students is not always a reflection on the quality of teachers. So many other factors enter the equation.