This Lede's Not Just Buried, It's Six Feet Under.

The No Child Left Behind Act is designed to increase student learning in math and reading, primarily in the elementary and middle school grades, by holding schools accountable for student performance on state standardized tests. It also focuses on closing achievement gaps for low-income and minority students.

Last week, the Education Trust released a report which found that in the vast majority of states studied, elementary and middle school student performance improved in math and reading, as measured by their performance on state standardized tests. In most states, achievement gaps also narrowed. (Disclosure: I used to work at the Education Trust, and the report's primary author, Daria Hall, used to work for me. In addition to being a crackerjack education policy analyst, Daria has better taste in rock music than anyone I know).

In other words, the No Child Left Behind Act is working, as measured by one of the few metrics that can be reasonably used to make such judgments. As the report notes, results aren't improving fast enough nor are all the gaps closing. But the vector of improvement, by these measures, is undeniable. Given the near-constant and frequently histrionic teeth-gnashing about NCLB, you'd think this would be news.

Yet for days following the report's release, CNN.com ran an AP article about the report that made virtually no mention of these findings. Instead, it was titled: "Huge gaps in state, federal test scores."

That refers to one of the report's appendices, which noted that the definition of "proficiency" used by the federal NAEP exam is a lot more stringent than the definition used by most states. It's a perfectly fair point. But it's also been made by a lot of other people at other times.

Burying the lede is one thing; putting it in the last graf, as this article did, is something else entirely. The lesson here is clear: some random teacher in Colorado talks smack about the President, and it's front-page news; carefully document the fact that millions of teachers and students across the country have worked hard and improved achievement, and if you're lucky you get a desultory final sentence that basically says "Oh, and students are learning more or something."

It's telling that in our loud national debate about education policy, the central goals--and evidence--of improving student performance are often the last thing anyone wants to talk about.