This is how Bush can say NCLB is "successful"--he hopes the people will have amnesia regarding all these "exemptions" the Educ. Dept has been granting when push comes to shove!!
and he can say---how compassionate and flexible he is!!
http://www.stateline.org/stateline/?pa=story&sa=showStoryInfo&id=432403&columns=falseWednesday, February 16, 2005
Rebellion against federal ed law reignites in Utah
By Kavan Peterson, Staff Writer, Stateline.org A showdown over President Bush’s sweeping education reform law is climaxing in the heavily Republican state of Utah this week and could push the federal government to make concessions sought by several states in enforcement of the No Child Left Behind Act.
For the second year, U.S. Department of Education officials urgently are trying to quell a rebellion by Utah state lawmakers who are poised to adopt legislation that significantly challenges requirements of the federal education law.
The NCLB act threatens to penalize schools that fail to improve standardized test scores annually for all racial and demographic groups; it has come under criticism from multiple states for intruding on state education programs and imposing extra costs.
In the toughest slap at NCLB this year, Utah’s House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill Tuesday (Feb. 15) that calls for the state’s own testing regimen to take precedence over NCLB testing mandates. The bill was sponsored by Republican state Rep. Margaret Dayton, who last year led a nationally watched effort in Utah that threatened to opt out of Bush’s signature school reform law.