NCLB

Chairman Kennedy holds roundtable discussion on law’s future and effectiveness

January 8, 2008 -- Cambridge, MA— Today, on the sixth anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the United States Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, held a roundtable discussion at Harvard’s Institute of Politics. The discussion, which included stakeholders from the local and state level, teachers, superintendents, policy makers and academics, was part of an ongoing discussion on the reauthorization of the bill.    » read more »

January 7, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to President Bush’s remarks on the No Child Left Behind Act made today at the Greeley Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois. Tomorrow is the sixth anniversary of the enactment of the law.    » read more »

January 7, 2008 -- Washington, DC — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada made the following statement today in response to the President’s remarks on No Child Left Behind:

“Six years after the signing of the No Child Left Behind Act, it is clear that the law needs to be overhauled. When Congress joined President Bush in 2002 to usher in a dramatic reform of our nation’s schools, we were hopeful that increased accountability and performance standards, together with a significant increase in the federal investment in education, would raise student achievement levels.    » read more »

January 7, 2008 -- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has issued a significant ruling providing powerful new momentum to the state's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) case and congressional reform.

The federal appeals court - in a case that is separate but parallel to Connecticut's - has ruled that the Unfunded Mandates Provision of the NCLB Act means what it says and, if violated, runs afoul of the Spending Clause limitations of the Constitution.    » read more »

“Education Reforms Need Time To Work”

November 30, 2007 -- LANSING – The percentage of Michigan high schools not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) this past year increased by over nine percent, according to the Michigan Department of Education.

The state reports that for the 2006-07 school year, 489 high schools did not make AYP, which is required by the federal No Child Left Behind law, compared to 399 high schools that did not make AYP the previous year. Of the 489 schools not making AYP last year, 15 have been closed by their local school districts.    » read more »

October 9, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to remarks made by President Bush on reauthorizing No Child Left Behind. President Bush met with Civil Rights leaders today to talk about the bill’s reauthorization.

Chairman Kennedy plans to introduce reauthorization language by the end of the month.    » read more »

October 9, 2007 -- THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. Thank you all for coming. I want to thank Secretary Spellings for joining me here. And I appreciate you all -- the leaders of the civil rights community and advocates for minority and disadvantaged students for joining us as well.    » read more »

Teachers of the Year to Advise Federal Government on Impact of NCLB

September 18, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) unveiled legislation today to create a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee – which will be comprised of current or former Teachers of the Year – to advise Congress and the Department of Education on the impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on students, their families, and the classroom learning environment. The Teachers at the Table Act is cosponsored by Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), and Christopher J.    » read more »

Improving Student Testing Act Moves Away from High-Stakes Testing as the Primary Measure of Achievement

September 17, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Improving Student Testing Act today to amend the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Feingold and Leahy’s legislation focuses on improving the quality of assessments used to measure student achievement in our nation’s schools.    » read more »

NEA President Reg Weaver urges Congress to pay close attention to public sentiments on NCLB

August 28, 2007 -- WASHINGTON -- Phi Delta Kappa and Gallup Poll today released the 39th Annual Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. Among this year's major findings: 52 percent of Americans believe that No Child Left Behind is limiting what children are taught -- at the expense of subjects such as art, science, health and social studies -- and a significant majority believe that more must be done to prepare students to compete in a global economy.    » read more »

August 23, 2007 -- AUGUSTA – Test scores for Maine students in grades 3 through 8 improved or remained the same in reading, math and science since last year. Schools across Maine have received student and school reports from the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA), redesigned last year to measure the achievement of all students’ progress toward meeting Maine’s Learning Results, as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), in reading and mathematics in grades 3 through 8.    » read more »

Candidates Continue To Call for Major Changes to 'No Child Left Behind'

August 19, 2007 -- WASHINGTON -- Democrats running for President reject any mandatory pay-for-performance schemes as part of the reauthorization of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The candidates also reject any plan to tie teacher pay to student test scores. The candidates stated their opposition to merit pay during a nationally televised debate in Des Moines, Iowa, where they also called for universal pre-school and an overhaul of the No Child Left Behind Act.    » read more »

15 August 2007 -- Writing in the Washington Times, AAAS Chief Executive Officer Alan I. Leshner called for voluntary national education standards under the No Child Left Behind Act.

In a commentary appearing on 15 August, Leshner said that voluntary standards would "scrap the crazy-quilt pattern of wildly differing tests and proficiency thresholds that currently vary from state to state."

"Science literacy is, after all, no longer merely a luxury for the gifted and wealthy, but in fact a baseline requirement for any student hoping to compete for jobs in the 21st century," Leshner said.    » read more »

High-Stakes Testing and Top-Down Federal Control Are Main Concerns in No Child Left Behind Reauthorization

August 13, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) are pushing for needed reforms to improve the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education law. The Senators have written to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee outlining some of their priorities for the reauthorization of NCLB.    » read more »

Presidential candidates pledge to make quality public schools, and NCLB reform, key election issues

July 5, 2007 -- PHILADELPHIA—If lawmakers demand accountability from public schools, they need to provide educators with the resources and respect they need to get the job done. Three presidential candidates, Democrat and Republican, pledged to more than 9,000 educators Thursday that they would reform No Child Left Behind and make quality public education a national priority if elected.    » read more »