WDET News
- Obama Administration Wants Changes In No Child Left Behind Law
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Mar 15, 2010GeneralThe Obama Administration wants Congress to authorize a revised version of the “No Child Left Behind” education law….
Education Secretary Arne Duncan
WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter has more…
The No Child Left Behind law instituted by President Bush has been often criticized by educators for requiring too-many unfunded mandates…forcing teachers to actually lower standards so schools don’t risk losing funding as a penalty.
An individual school either passed or failed to meet the requirements.
But the Obama Administration is calling for placing schools in one of three tiers:
High performing schools would gain increased funding and flexibility.
Middle-of-the-road performers would have additional scrutiny placed on their academic standards.
And schools judged to be “low-performing” would have to undertake drastic steps to improve…including firing managers and staff.
During a conference call…U-S Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the Administration hopes to achieve more-focused results…by taking a broader approach.
“In the previous law the entire accountability focused just on that individual school. And we know schools don’t exist independent of their support in their communities. So for the first time ever we’re holding districts accountable…and rewarding districts where we’re seeing growth…and the same thing at the state level.”
The previous No Child law concentrated on improving math and reading skills…and recent Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests have shown progress among students statewide in those areas.
The proposed law would allow schools to use other subjects in their annual ratings…but add a requirement that states and districts use so-called “value-added” indicators to track how much students learn during a school year.