Jeb's Children Left Behind

From today's Palm Beach Post:

After 77 percent of Florida schools failed last year under the state's version of the federal No Child Left Behind law, Education Commissioner John Winn said Tuesday he's considering lowering student achievement standards under that law.

The changes would alter standards Florida set for itself under the federal law, something Gov. Jeb Bush and Winn said they wouldn't do just a few months ago.

Changes are needed because Florida has "such a high number of schools not making" adequate yearly progress, Winn said at a state Board of Education meeting in Miami. He said he wants Florida's plan changed before this year's calculation of adequate yearly progress.

I'm no fan of high-stakes testing and other cosmetic gimmicks that fail to address the long-term, structural issues schools face. But what does it say about Florida's leaders that they're willing to move the goalposts just so they can declare the state's educational system a success?