So on its report card, ABC News gave No Child Left Behind's central element — testing students to meet standards — an A-. To be sure, the law has plenty of real problems.

In 43 states, No Child Left Behind is receding to a distant memory. Waivers granted to those states by the Obama administration have shoveled the law to the refuse pile.

As for the promise to reform No Child Left Behind, that will take more time. "Over the coming months the administration will be developing its proposal for reauthorization," Duncan said in his ...