A group of Rockland County educators, parents and others have put together a report analyzing the pros and cons of No Child Left Behind, the federal law that mandates annual standardized testing for public school students.

The verdict: The cons outnumber the pros by a lot and the law—which is up for reauthorization next year—needs to be changed, they say. Some members of the group will be travelling to our nation’s capital in coming weeks to make their points in person.

For an overview of the report, check out Randi Weiner’s latest “Inside Education column.”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061127/NEWS08/611270348/1019/NEWS03 For more information and a glimpse of what educators had to say at the report’s unveiling, see this “story.”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061128/NEWS03/611280357/1019/NEWS03

Officials say they’ll eventually be making the report available online. We’ll let you know when they do.

In the meantime, tell us what you think: Can a group from Rockland influence the thinking of D.C. educrats?

UPDATE (3:13 p.m.): Well, at the very least, we know that Washington is paying attention. Randi Weiner just got a call from a deputy press secretary from the U.S. Department of Education who felt that NCLB was not accurately described and represented in her column. If we hear more from him or others in the department, we’ll be sure to let you know.