From “Reviewing education reform in the 2010-11 school year” in today’s Post:

The 2010-11 school year might not have looked much different from the one that preceded it to all the kids who woke up early, slogged to school, took test after standardized test and went home to study some more.

But to the adults in public education, there was incredible tumult. [...]

The clock kept ticking on the 2002 No Child Left Behind law — or, rather, on its “annual yearly progress” provision, which sets a goal for virtually all students to become proficient in reading and math by 2014. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called for an overhaul of the law, saying in March that perhaps 82 percent of American schools would be considered failing this year under the provision.

Congress still has not acted.

As school years around the country come to a close, this whirlwind recap of events (or, in some cases, non-events) in American public education is quite striking. June’s graduations and commencements typically celebrate progress, launch the next phase. But in a year in which schools were arguably at the center of a local election and a major topic of national debate, did DC and the nation as a whole make some real progress? Has the next phase in education reform been launched — or does that next phase still lack definition? Last Monday, we linked to Jay Matthews’ “Class Struggle,” which argued that candidates will likely avoid educational questions in the presidential election as they are both divisive and ultimately local. So is the conversation at a stand-still, at least on the national level, until 2013? (I certainly hope not)

But to me, the first paragraphs of the reform review also hinted at a deeper concern: “all the kids who woke up early, slogged to school, took test after standardized test.” To adults, the school year was rife with upheavals. For kids, it was just another “slog.” In a sense, isn’t that precisely the issue? School shouldn’t be a slog. School shouldn’t be routine and repetitive. It shouldn’t be an endless array of tests (and prepping for tests). School should be fascinating and addictive. It should be variable. And as soon as we start assuming that it is not, as soon as we start taking actual student experience out of the equation, tangible progress becomes less likely.

Of course, the transformation of classrooms cannot happen everywhere all at once. But just to end on another, key question: how can we ensure, moving into the next school year, that the day-to-day experience of students is at the center of the conversation?