Kennedy on the 2nd Anniv. of the No Child Left Behind Act

[twilight]

Two years ago, it was right for President Bush to celebrate the promise of the No Child Left Behind Act. Today, it's disingenuous.

The No Child Left Behind Act is still the right reform for our schools, requiring higher standards, better teachers, and real accountability for schools for the performance of all children. But in the two years since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, the Bush Administration has cut its funding, reneged on promised resources for better teachers and smaller classes, and worked to divert millions of dollars to private school vouchers.

The No Child Left Behind Act was modeled on proven reforms found in states like Massachusetts. While there is still much to be done in Massachusetts, for the last 10 years, we have committed resources to school reform, and we're getting positive results. Test scores are up in every grade, every subject, and for every racial and socioeconomic minority group. Massachusetts now leads the Nation in reading and math, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The No Child Left Behind Act can work if, as we've done in Massachusetts, we back up school reform and the President's rhetoric with resources. You can't reform schools on a tin cup budget.

President Bush's new budget for 2005 will leave over 4.6 million children behind. Still pending before Congress is President Bush's 2004 budget which provides schools with over $7.5 billion less than promised in the No Child Left Behind Act. And there is every expectation that the President will propose again not only to cut resources for public school reform, but to divert scarce public education dollars to private schools.

Regretfully, the President's budget fails to recognize that strong schools are as important to our future as a strong defense. While President Bush deserves an "A grade" for helping a bipartisan Congress shepherd a solid school reform plan into law, his follow through gets a "D minus" mark. It's way too soon for the "Mission Accomplished" banner on No Child Left Behind.

Link to story:
http://kennedy.senate.gov/~kennedy/statements/03/11/2004108354.html

GO TED! No child left behind - what a travesty!



:dem:

[papau]

1. WP says "NCLB" success stories hard to find -take "research" -Mixed Grades

WP says "NCLB" success stories hard to find -take "research" -Mixed Grades


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1494-2004Jan8.html

Bush's Education Plan Gets Mixed Grades on Anniversary
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 9, 2004; Page A09
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 8 -- President Bush has to be careful where he takes the fake chalkboard and tall stools the White House uses to stage television-friendly discussions about his education program.

Thursday marked two years since Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law, and he went on the road to celebrate this week in Missouri and Tennessee -- swing states important to his reelection bid. The White House seeks out schools where No Child Left Behind, which mandates testing and is designed to empower parents, is successful and popular. But finding them takes some research.

No Child Left Behind, which Bush's staff once considered his crowning domestic accomplishment, is under attack by many school administrators, who consider it a rigid intrusion they cannot afford. The states' first round of school evaluations shook the confidence of some parents instead of reassuring them. Bush's program eventually will allow pupils to transfer out of public schools that receive poor scores and do not improve.<snip>


Bush proudly eschews immersion in policy details, and he told an audience during his day-long celebration of the bill in 2002: "I admit, I haven't read it yet. . . . But I know the principles behind the bill." <snip>

With former Vermont governor Howard Dean and other Democratic presidential candidates calling funding for No Child Left Behind inadequate, the administration said $6 billion in funds for Title I, for low-income schools, and IDEA, whch requires schools to accommodate students with disabilities, has gone unspent because states did not ask for it.

Ronald J. Tomalis, counsel to Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige, said in a telephone interview from Washington that the money is available to every state. "All they have to do is push a button at the state level when they need the money," Tomalis said.<snip>

[lcordero]

2. celebrate?

that piece of toilet paper was nothing but a trojan horse. The only thing that it did was open up school records for military recruiters. This piece of legislation was an indicator of things to come. Anybody that gave a yes vote for it should be looked at really really carefully.