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Obama's 'No Child' Overhaul Creates Anxiety, Hopes
(Feb. 1) -- Less than a week after President Barack Obama said a "world-class education" is "one of best anti-poverty programs," his administration is gearing up to propose major changes to the controversial No Child Left Behind law.
In a move guaranteed to attract more controversy, the Obama administration wants to overhaul President George W. Bush's signature education law to change the way it measures school performance and awards funding. The law could get a boost from the 2011 budget Obama released Monday, which calls for an increase of more than 6 percent in education spending.
For years, No Child Left Behind, which created national standards for public schools, has been the subject of scorn from teachers' unions and other critics, who argue that the legislation punishes failing schools without providing the funding to help them improve. Before the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is renewed this year, the Obama administration has asked Congress to reform the No Child program, The New York Times reports.
A look at how the legislation could change:
Eliminate 2014 Deadline for Academic Proficiency
No Child Left Behind currently mandates that 100 percent of students in every school be proficient in math and reading by 2014, which Education Secretary Arne Duncan called a "utopian goal" last year. The Obama administration wants to nix the deadline and instead focus on making sure all students who graduate from public schools are ""college- or career-ready," The Times reports.
The 2014 deadline was widely criticized by states as difficult, if not impossible, to meet, especially in the face of budget cuts in recent years. In 2007, for example, Robert L. Linn, co-director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at UCLA, told The Washington Post that "there is a zero percent chance that we will ever reach a 100 percent target."
In the blogosphere, the measure was already receiving some praise Monday morning. Mark Kleiman of the Reality-Based Community blog noted that "not all children are 'above average,'" and said he was happy the administration wants to "insist on performance" and is "not going to insist on the impossible. That's progress."
But Eric Tipler, a former public school teacher who writes for The Huffington Post, was more cautious. "We need to make sure that 'career readiness' actually means "'readiness for a career,'" he wrote, "not a backdoor to avoid educating the children we're currently failing to educate."
A New Funding Formula
Currently, schools are awarded funding based on the number of students they serve and the proportion of the student body that is considered low income. Though Duncan offered scant details, it's clear the administration wants to begin funding schools based on academic progress instead. This approach could anger teachers' unions but found an ally in the National Review's Chester E. Finn, who praised the administration for trying to "keep a 'competitive' element in this, rather than simply distributing dollars via formula."
Changing How Success Is Measured
Under No Child Left Behind, schools are rated based on "adequate yearly progress" measured in test scores, a practice that some teaching organizations say is unfair to underfunded school districts. The administration is expected to ask Congress to drop that metric and instead have "performance based on judging schools in a more nuanced way," Bruce Hunter, director of public policy for the American Association of School Administrators, told The New York Times.
The conservative blogger Gina Cobb said the change was just the administration's way of appeasing the teachers' unions. "Nothing good will come of this more 'nuanced' approach being urged by teachers' unions," she wrote. "Nor will any students benefit academically from a new federal policy that will throw 'large new amounts of money' at schools if they teach what Obama 'defines' as important."
More Money
Even supporters of No Child Left Behind have criticized the program because it has been chronically underfunded over the years. In his new budget proposal Monday, Obama asked for an increase in funding to the federal Department of Education of more than 6 percent. This increase is meant, he said, to "inspire students to excel in math and science, and turn around failing schools which consign too many young people to a lesser future."
But in the midst of a severe recession and amid growing concerns about the budget deficit, some are questioning whether the proposal can make it through Congress. At the National Journal, Eliza Krigman was skeptical. "Can the administration generate the momentum for Congress to pass a reauthorization, even in an election year in which many other issues are crowding the agenda?" she asked.
But education is one of the few areas where the president has found some bipartisan support for his agenda. His administration's Race to the Top program, for example, allows states to compete for billions in funding and is popular with some Republicans. "This is one area where we share values and policy ideas," Duncan told The Wall Street Journal.
Filed under: Nation
Obama's Overhaul of 'No Child' Law Creates High Anxiety, High Hopes - AOL News
Wow 100% under the Bush plan so if I kid doesn't cut the whole school suffers. A retard signing a retarded bill back then
(Feb. 1) -- Less than a week after President Barack Obama said a "world-class education" is "one of best anti-poverty programs," his administration is gearing up to propose major changes to the controversial No Child Left Behind law.
In a move guaranteed to attract more controversy, the Obama administration wants to overhaul President George W. Bush's signature education law to change the way it measures school performance and awards funding. The law could get a boost from the 2011 budget Obama released Monday, which calls for an increase of more than 6 percent in education spending.
For years, No Child Left Behind, which created national standards for public schools, has been the subject of scorn from teachers' unions and other critics, who argue that the legislation punishes failing schools without providing the funding to help them improve. Before the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is renewed this year, the Obama administration has asked Congress to reform the No Child program, The New York Times reports.
A look at how the legislation could change:
Eliminate 2014 Deadline for Academic Proficiency
No Child Left Behind currently mandates that 100 percent of students in every school be proficient in math and reading by 2014, which Education Secretary Arne Duncan called a "utopian goal" last year. The Obama administration wants to nix the deadline and instead focus on making sure all students who graduate from public schools are ""college- or career-ready," The Times reports.
The 2014 deadline was widely criticized by states as difficult, if not impossible, to meet, especially in the face of budget cuts in recent years. In 2007, for example, Robert L. Linn, co-director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at UCLA, told The Washington Post that "there is a zero percent chance that we will ever reach a 100 percent target."
In the blogosphere, the measure was already receiving some praise Monday morning. Mark Kleiman of the Reality-Based Community blog noted that "not all children are 'above average,'" and said he was happy the administration wants to "insist on performance" and is "not going to insist on the impossible. That's progress."
But Eric Tipler, a former public school teacher who writes for The Huffington Post, was more cautious. "We need to make sure that 'career readiness' actually means "'readiness for a career,'" he wrote, "not a backdoor to avoid educating the children we're currently failing to educate."
A New Funding Formula
Currently, schools are awarded funding based on the number of students they serve and the proportion of the student body that is considered low income. Though Duncan offered scant details, it's clear the administration wants to begin funding schools based on academic progress instead. This approach could anger teachers' unions but found an ally in the National Review's Chester E. Finn, who praised the administration for trying to "keep a 'competitive' element in this, rather than simply distributing dollars via formula."
Changing How Success Is Measured
Under No Child Left Behind, schools are rated based on "adequate yearly progress" measured in test scores, a practice that some teaching organizations say is unfair to underfunded school districts. The administration is expected to ask Congress to drop that metric and instead have "performance based on judging schools in a more nuanced way," Bruce Hunter, director of public policy for the American Association of School Administrators, told The New York Times.
The conservative blogger Gina Cobb said the change was just the administration's way of appeasing the teachers' unions. "Nothing good will come of this more 'nuanced' approach being urged by teachers' unions," she wrote. "Nor will any students benefit academically from a new federal policy that will throw 'large new amounts of money' at schools if they teach what Obama 'defines' as important."
More Money
Even supporters of No Child Left Behind have criticized the program because it has been chronically underfunded over the years. In his new budget proposal Monday, Obama asked for an increase in funding to the federal Department of Education of more than 6 percent. This increase is meant, he said, to "inspire students to excel in math and science, and turn around failing schools which consign too many young people to a lesser future."
But in the midst of a severe recession and amid growing concerns about the budget deficit, some are questioning whether the proposal can make it through Congress. At the National Journal, Eliza Krigman was skeptical. "Can the administration generate the momentum for Congress to pass a reauthorization, even in an election year in which many other issues are crowding the agenda?" she asked.
But education is one of the few areas where the president has found some bipartisan support for his agenda. His administration's Race to the Top program, for example, allows states to compete for billions in funding and is popular with some Republicans. "This is one area where we share values and policy ideas," Duncan told The Wall Street Journal.
Filed under: Nation
Obama's Overhaul of 'No Child' Law Creates High Anxiety, High Hopes - AOL News
Wow 100% under the Bush plan so if I kid doesn't cut the whole school suffers. A retard signing a retarded bill back then
NBA is a joke
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