Groups Press Spellings for NCLB Overhaul

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

"NO CHILD" LAW ON TRACK, SPELLINGS SAYS

Washington Post -- January 4, 2007
by Amit R. Paley

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said yesterday that she 
welcomed proposals to "perfect and tweak" the No Child Left Behind law 
as Congress prepares for what could become a divisive debate on renewal 
of the landmark education initiative.

But in an interview five days before the act's fifth anniversary, 
Spellings said its implementation was on track. She rejected calls for a 
major rewrite of the law, including some proposals advanced yesterday by 
a coalition of about 100 groups with a stake in education.

"We've made more progress in the last five years than the previous 28 
years," Spellings said. "Can the law be improved? Should we build on 
what we've done and all of that sort of thing? You bet. But I don't hear 
people saying: 'You know what? We really don't need to have education 
for all students.' "

Her remarks come as various groups begin to weigh in on the law and what 
they believe works and what does not. The No Child Left Behind law is 
scheduled to be reauthorized by Congress, but it is uncertain when 
lawmakers will act.

The Forum on Educational Accountability -- a coalition that includes 
education, religious, civil rights and disability rights groups -- said 
yesterday that the law overemphasizes standardized tests and arbitrary 
academic targets. The coalition also criticized penalties the law 
imposes on schools that fail to meet standards.

"We don't have to throw out the whole law and make a big political 
battle," said Reginald M Felton, a senior lobbyist for the National 
School Boards Association, a member of the coalition. "But we need to 
change from the punitive, 'gotcha!' kind of approach to actual support 
for progress."

The coalition includes the National Parent Teacher Association, the 
NAACP and the National Education Association, a teachers union. The 
coalition has called for more federal education funding to help schools 
meet the law's mandates.

Spellings said the past five years have laid the foundation for the 
law's key goal of ensuring that every child can read and write at grade 
level by 2014. Under the law, states must test all students in reading 
and math from grades 3 to 8 and once in high school. Schools that fail 
to make adequate progress face a range of penalties.

The Bush administration has granted some states flexibility in how they 
carry out the law. For example, North Carolina and Tennessee are 
experimenting with a way to rate schools that emphasizes the 
year-to-year academic growth of students rather than how scores compare 
with fixed benchmarks.

"Have we learned something as we've made public policy for the last five 
years that we ought to act on going forward? Absolutely," Spellings 
said. "And I've done some of those things."

She added, "Those are some of the areas that ought to be discussed in 
the context of reauthorization."

The law, which passed Congress in 2001 with overwhelming bipartisan 
support, was signed by President Bush on Jan. 8, 2002.

Yesterday, Spellings lauded the incoming education committee chairmen, 
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), as 
"stalwarts" who have "stayed very true to the core principles of this law."

   
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010301617.html