By Ken Newton 

Savannah, Mo., school superintendent Don Lawrence recognizes the folly of determining Andrew County educational policies from the nation’s capital.“I’ve yet to see a solution come from 2,000 miles away that couldn’t have been better done at the local level,” Mr. Lawrence observed.The school chief finds agreement in that with Congressman Sam Graves, who hosted a conference call Wednesday regarding No Child Left Behind legislation. The landmark school-accountability measure is up for reauthorization in Congress, and the Northwest Missouri lawmaker wants more flexibility for local districts in the revised law.“The goal is to ensure schools make adequate progress in raising student achievement,” Mr. Graves said, “but we want to make sure they are not so restrictive that schools are ultimately set up for failure down the road.” The Tarkio Republican finds devilry in the definitions of No Child Left Behind, believing the law could stand use guidelines for “adequate yearly progress” provisions. He favors so-called growth models. This concept measures not one year’s fourth grade against the next year’s fourth grade but instead tracks the achievements of a class from year to year.