Sen. Clinton Questions NCLB Testing Emphasis

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

CLINTON QUESTIONS EMPHASIS ON TESTING  
Associated Press -- June 9, 2007
         by Henry C. Jackson

CLINTON QUESTIONS EMPHASIS ON TESTING

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticized the No 
Child Left Behind education program Saturday, saying its emphasis on 
testing puts American students in danger of losing their creative edge.

"I think that we are in danger of narrowing the curriculum and leaving 
children behind," Clinton said Saturday. "That's the very opposite of 
what they said would happen."

Clinton voted for No Child Left Behind, President Bush's signature 
education policy, in 2001, but has since been a sharp critic. She said 
the program's emphasis on testing is diluting resources from other 
valuable areas of education.

That will be a problem for the country going forward, she said.

"Part of the reason America was always in the forefront of the World 
Economy is that we're the innovators ... it's because we have creative 
learners, we have people who learned to get around obstacles, they 
didn't go in a straight line."

Clinton spoke at a campaign event in Indianola, where she helped raise 
money for state lawmaker Sen. Staci Appel. At the end of the event 
Appel, who is serving her first term in the Legislature, said she was 
endorsing Clinton's presidential bid.

Clinton gave a version of her stump speech before taking a handful of 
questions from a crowd of about 300 people.

One woman, a college student studying music, asked Clinton what she 
would do to ensure there was room for music education in public schools. 
Clinton said she was a big supporter of music and other creative venues 
in school.

"Anyone who's ever heard me sing, knows, I can't sing," she said. "It's 
a shame. I always sound great to my ears. ... But I love music, and I 
cherish music, and I think back to my own years at school when the music 
teachers would come into our classroom."

Clinton said music and art can help unlock hidden potential in some 
students.

"Music and art, and exposure to different set of cultural experiences 
can ignite such a creative passion and imagination in some people," she 
said. "I worry that No Child Left Behind with its emphasis on tests ... 
is going to weed so many kids out."