The Bush administration is trying to address one of the most common complaints about the No Child Left Behind education law, reports the Associated Press: It treats schools the same, regardless of whether they fail to meet annual benchmarks by a little or a lot. To remedy this problem, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings plans to announce March 18 that she wants states to submit proposals for assigning different consequences to schools based on the degree to which they miss annual progress goals. The new initiative will allow states to distinguish between "on-fire schools and those with a smolder," Spellings said in an interview. States will be able to tailor consequences toward specific problem areas, which Spellings likened to diagnosing an illness and then prescribing a cure. She also said it would lead to more efficient use of resources…

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