Fwd: Democratic presidential candidates on NCLB

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

  From: James Crawford <jwcrawford@COMPUSERVE.COM>

  Date: Mon Jul 9, 2007 2:26:22 PM US/Pacific

  To: ELLADVOC@asu.edu

  Subject: Democratic presidential candidates on NCLB

  Reply-To: James Crawford <jwcrawford@COMPUSERVE.COM>

  Comments from last week's conference of the National Education Association,
  lifted from EdWeek and the NEA web site: www.nea.org0000,0000,0000, where
  video clips are also available. All the Democrats running for president seem
  to have figured out that testing isn't too popular these days. They offer
  some nice sound-bites. Of course, what they would do about NCLB remains a
  little vague.

  Senator Hillary Clinton:

  “We need a new approach, one that is balanced—that puts learning, not
  memorizing and testing, front and center in American education again. … It’s
  time that we start supporting educators and quit pointing fingers. We should
  reward teachers when schools show achievement gains. We can’t do this unless
  we finally fix what is wrong with No Child Left Behind.”

  “Our children are getting good at filling in those little bubbles. But how
  much creativity is being left behind? How much passion for learning is being
  left behind? … The test is becoming the curriculum when it should be the
  other way around.”

  Senator Barack Obama:

  No Child Left Behind is “one of the emptiest slogans in the history of
  American politics. Left the money behind when they passed No Child Left
  Behind. Left the common sense behind.”

  Senator John Edwards:

  “A test does not tell us what we need to do help our children to learn. A
  test does not prepare our teachers, a test does not give us the information
  we need to make our public schools better. … How long is it going to take us
  to figure out you can’t educate kids by testing them to death?”

  Senator Chris Dodd:

  “Learning is not filling in the bubbles. It is about connecting the dots.”

  Gov. Bill Richardson:

  “This is unfair and this is crazy. It’s got to stop. [NCLB] can be improved,
  it must be improved and when I’m elected it will be improved or it will be
  abolished. … If a school isn’t doing well, we should help that school, not
  hurt it.” 

  “Our nation’s school reform has made our schools look more like reform
  schools with all the mindless testing and bureaucratic regulations.”

  Senator Joe Biden:

  “You cannot build a new economy by having our children constantly fill out
  bubbles. You have to free [students’] minds.”

   Dennis Kucinich:

  “Yes, we need to make sure children can read, but we do not want to defeat
  the learning experience and make it all about testing, because then all you
  have is a generation of test takers, not a generation of visionaries ready to
  lead the nation forward.”

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