U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill believes the federal government is putting too many rules and regulations in place that handcuff local school districts. That is why she is advocating for changes to the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act — better known as the No Child Left Behind Act. When Congress expanded the federal government’s role in education in 2001, it set goals for all students to be proficient in math and reading by 2014. Today, many school officials feels those benchmarks are impossible to reach. “I think we’ve got to change the federal polices that relate to this one test,” McCaskill said. “We have to find a way to measure progress and reward progress as opposed to whether or not you hit a certain number. We are calling an awful lot of schools failing schools right now and that doesn’t help anything.” McCaskill’s visit to Warrenton Monday was part of a four day, 15-city tour around the state. Prior to arriving in Warrenton, she stopped in O’Fallon and visited the Fort Zumwalt School District. She ended her day in Troy. A roundtable discussion was held for nearly an hour in the high school library where McCaskill spoke with administrators, school board members, teachers and parents. While a portion of the Missouri Democrat’s visit dealt with the standardized tests administered annually by all school districts, discussion also centered around accountability for districts, year-round classes, early childhood and excessive absences. McCaskill expects lawmakers to begin debating educational policies at the federal level this summer as Congress prepares to reauthorize the federal law. One of the main criticism of the federal law centers around end of course exams, where some believe teachers must focus too much on scoring well on the test. Two concerns mentioned Monday was that the standardized test compares progress from one year to the next which may not reflect an accurate measuring stick and that students may not put much care into the test. Rich Barton, high school teacher, noted the ACT test remains more of a priority for students over the EOC exams. “I never heard one of my seniors say they won’t take the ACT serious,” he said. “They know there is accountability” with the ACT. McCaskill hopes to see legislators come up with a different law that will hopefully work better and be more effective for school districts. “I think that we thought it could be as simple as one test,” McCaskill said. “What we’ve learned is it’s a lot more complicated than that. The legislation needs to reflect that. The thought that we are going to force teachers to teach to a test and take all of creativeness out of the classroom, that is not going to work.” School Board President Teresa Scott was glad to see McCaskill choose Warrenton as one of her stops. “Obviously, anytime you can have a face to face meeting with a person making decision it’s good,” she said. “It was an honor to have her in our school.