More on Bush Promoting NCLB

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

Talk about being in a "State of Denial." Every statement attributed to 
Pres. Bush here is, um, reality challenged.

BUSH: NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND CLOSING ACHIEVEMENT GAP
Washington Post.-- October 5, 2006
by Theola Labbe

President Bush said today that the No Child Left Behind education 
requirements he signed into law four years ago have helped to close the 
achievement gap and he proposed several changes to the law aimed at 
assisting teachers and giving parents more school choice.

Speaking at Friendship-Woodridge Elementary and Middle School in 
Northeast Washington, Bush said that the federal law has been successful 
because the annual testing in reading and math hold schools accountable 
for how they teach and what students learn. The law, which is scheduled 
to be reauthorized next year, requires all students, including special 
education and learning disabled populations, to be proficient in reading 
and math by 2014.

Bush chose Friendship-Woodridge, a charter school that opened in 1998, 
because the school has met academic benchmarks for the last three years. 
On the latest test, the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment, the school was 
among the four schools out of 37 charter schools to make the grade.

"How do you solve the problem until you measure the problem," Bush said, 
touting the merits of annual testing. "The No Child Left Behind Act 
demands results for every child."

Bush proposed several changes to the law and called on Congress to fund 
them. Teachers who raise their student scores or decide to teach in a 
hard-to-serve urban or rural school districts would get a bonus. Math 
and science professionals would work in more classrooms under a 
federally-funded adjunct program. Parents, who often receive information 
about school options after the schoolyear has started, would have to 
receive earlier notice.

Bush said that a District voucher program, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship, 
that allows 1,800 District public school children to attend private 
schools should be expanded to 28,000 children across the country. 
Finally, he said that America's high schools are not graduating 
one-fourth of their students, and he called for more standardized 
testing beyond the 10th grade, and a new Advanced Placement teacher 
training program for 70,00 teachers.

"If you want America to compete, you must have high standards," he said, 
addressing teachers and students in the school's gymnasium.

In a statement, the Democratic National Committee called the education 
law a failure because it said it has been underfunded and has forced 
states to sue the federal government to pay for programs. States Sue 
Bush For Unfunded Mandate of No Child Left Behind. Several states and 
the District, and other groups filed separate amicus briefs last month 
supporting a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association that 
the law was unfunded. According to the Mental Health Law Report, 80 
percent of school districts report they have No Child Left Behind costs 
not covered by federal funding.

"The broken promises of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act are 
disgraceful," said DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton.

But the mood on the Friendship campus was upbeat as children and 
visitors basked in the excitement of a presidential visit.

"What this about today is education and what works," said Franklin 
Malone, a registered Democrat who enrolled his twins in fifth grade this 
year. "This is a proud day for us," he said.

  
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100500973.html