When nearly half of a state’s schools, including some of its more progressive, hard-working districts, fall short of the federal No Child Left Behind performance standards, it is one more indication that top-down, one-size-fits-all federal laws are not the best way to help students learn.

Austin Public Schools was among the many Minnesota districts that did not meet Annual Yearly Progress requirements, a bit of a head-scratcher because Austin is a district that to all appearances is on the right course. It is certainly not one that anyone would point to as failing. But that is what the federal standards would have us believe.

The problem is that when AYP guidelines were laid down years ago, little provision was made for the potential need for adjustments along the way. As a result, the gap between real-world achievement, even where districts are making progress, and the standards is growing. By 2014, when every school in the country is theoretically supposed to be up to standards, the reality is likely to be that a majority will be considered unsuccessful.

That will be not so much because schools are broken but because the system is.

That does not mean there is much work that can be done in Austin, throughout Minnesota and throughout the nation to better educate children. There is always room for improvement. Measuring that improvement with a yardstick invented and maintained in Washington, D.C., is not likely, however, to provide any useful results. Indeed, it often produces contrary results.

Minnesotans, and Austin residents, shouldn’t take this year’s AYP results lightly. But neither do they need to be considered gospel when it comes to assessing a district’s quality. The results are, rather, a clear indicator that a better system of goal-setting and measurement is needed.