The pending reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the George W. Bush administration's iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, provides an important opportunity to consider what federal education policy could be in the United States. In this paper, we explain how the rationalization of education, particularly of reading instruction, has led to the failure of NCLB, even on its own terms. Our analysis critiques the underlying assumptions of this policy and proposes different possibilities for education policy, particularly the potential for policy to: (1) provide possibilities for all citizens to engage in democratic life, (2) provide access to information, and (3) to embrace the complexities of learning and literacy.