NYT/AP: Clinton Questions Emphasis on Testing
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 9, 2007
INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) -- 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....
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Clinton-Education.html