2010 will be the year to wipe the slate clean on the so-called “No Child Left Behind” law.  And in today’s Washington Post, education writer Jay Mathews — who supported the law — says it’s time to “kill NCLB.”

The anniversary of the signing of the No Child Left Behind last Friday reminded me that my long support for that landmark bipartisan law needs revision. The law has served its purpose. Instead of amending it, as the Obama administration and the Congress seem likely to do, let’s dump it and try something different.

I wouldn’t make such a radical suggestion if I didn’t think the law’s main elements would survive without it. All the states have been forced to establish annual testing that identifies which schools are not serving their students, particularly those with family and personal disadvantages. Any politician who tries to junk those tests is going to lose the next election to an opponent who asks the simple question: “Don’t you think our schools should be accountable?”

What we should do instead of No Child Left Behind is a more difficult question.

Click here to read the rest of Mathews’ thoughts on the options for replacing No Child Left Behind.