The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is bolder than all previous federal education laws, setting ambitious goals for universal student achievement and authorizing severe remedies for schools not reaching them. In a nation where most youngsters are far from proficient in reading and mathematics and where innumerable efforts to boost learning levels have fallen short, NCLB makes a huge policy wager: that failing schools and school districts can be set right and that all children can master reading and math.

'The year 2014 is the drop-dead date for American schoolchildren to be proficient in math and English,' said Hoover fellow Caroline Hoxby in a talk, '2004-2014: A Crucial Decade of Hope and Change for American Education,' she gave January 27.

As part of a recent meeting of the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation 2005 Prizes for Excellence in Education were presented at a dinner on January 13.