Congratulations to the Patriots on their victory in yesterday's Super Bowl. Back to No Child Left Behind: children receiving special education services are supposed to, as a group, show adequate yearly progress on MCAS otherwise a school will be labeled as "underperforming." All children (except for those with severe disabilities) should be held to the same standard - they're in special ed because they learn differently, not because they can't learn. But often times, this different way of learning is very resource intensive requiring more individualized instruction and highly trained teachers. This all costs a lot of money. Given the right situation, most children receiving special education services would thrive academically. Unfortunately, most school districts can only afford to do the minimum and this is often not enough. This is the real outrage of No Child Left Behind: it's proponents offer sanctimonious platitudes about wanting all children to succeed, but then siphon money from the already under funded school, pushing next year's goals further out of reach.