Community | March 13, 2010 | 121 comments

Obama Plans to Dismantle No Child Left Behind

source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/13/us/politics/AP-US-Obama-Education.html

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ATLANTA (AP) -- The Obama administration unveiled its plan Saturday to radically change his predecessor's No Child Left Behind law in hopes of replacing an accountability system that in the last decade has tagged more than a third of schools as failing and created a hodgepodge of sometimes weak academic standards among states.

The changes would dismantle the 2002 law championed by President George W. Bush, moving away from punishing schools that don't meet benchmarks and instead focusing on rewarding schools for progress, particularly with poor and minority students. The blueprint calls for states to adopt standards that ensure students are ready for college or a career rather than grade-level proficiency -- the focus of the current law.

''Unless we take action -- unless we step up -- there are countless children who will never realize their full talent and potential,'' Obama said during a video address on Saturday. ''I don't accept that future for them. And I don't accept that future for the United States of America.''

The blueprint also would allow states to use subjects other than reading and mathematics as part of their measurements for meeting federal goals, pleasing many education groups that have said No Child Left Behind encouraged teachers not to focus on history, art, science, social studies and other important subjects.

And, for the first time in the law's 45-year history, the White House is proposing a $4 billion increase in federal education spending, most of which would go to increase the competition among states for grant money and move away from formula-based funding.

The blueprint goes before the House Education and Labor Committee on Wednesday as Obama pushes Congress to reauthorize the education law this year, a time-consuming task that some observers say will be difficult. Committee Chairman George Miller, a Democrat from California, praised Obama's plan.

''This blueprint lays the right markers to help us reset the bar for our students and the nation,'' Miller said in a prepared statement.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan briefed a handful of governors, lawmakers and education groups on the plan Friday, including Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican.

''The governor is very supportive of the direction the secretary is going,'' said Perdue's spokesman Chris Schrimpf.

A few other highlights from the blueprint:

-- By 2020, all students graduating from high school would need to be ready for college or a career. That's a shift away from the current law, which calls for all students to be performing at grade level in reading and math by 2014.

-- Give more rewards -- money and flexibility -- to high-poverty schools that are seeing big gains in student achievement and use them as a model for other schools in low-income neighborhoods that struggle with performance.

-- Duncan has said the name No Child Left Behind will be dropped because it is associated with a harsh law that punishes schools for not reaching benchmarks even if they've made big gains. He said the administration will work with Congress to come up with a new name.

Amy Wilkins, a vice president with The Education Trust in Washington, D.C., called the blueprint a ''culture shift.''

''One of the things America has not been clear about is what k-12 is supposed to do,'' Wilkins said. ''In this, we're saying K-12 is supposed to prepare kids for college and meaningful careers.''

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/13/us/politics/AP-US-Obama-Education.htm...
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121 comments // Obama Plans to Dismantle No Child Left Behind

  • unimatrix0
  • divotdawg
  • unimatrix0
  • jahbini
    • +1
      jahbini  
    • unimatrix0:

      I respectfully disagree with that statement. You have effectively called me an abusive parent.

      Cease and desist unless you have specific evidence that I have ever abused my children, except by not protecting them better from their mother's vicious emotional games.

    • 2 years ago
  • UtopianSky
    • +2
      UtopianSky  
    • divotdawg:

      You did not say those agencies need to be cleaned of corruption- you said they need to be dismantled.

      I have to agree with Unimatrix- those agencies are necessary to protect children from abusive parents. If there are problems within them (imagine that- problems in a government agency!) than those PROBLEMS need to be addressed, not the destruction of child protection, which would allow abusers to run rampant.

      That would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater literally.

    • 2 years ago
  • divotdawg
    • 0
      divotdawg  
    • unimatrix0:

      Do you really believe that CPS is about protecting children? It's not and I'm trying to let everyone know that before they need this information. It's not about me, you or anyone else. It's about a system of government that's corrupt from the top down. Google Title IV-E funding and ASFA. Do a little research before making a blanket statement that CPS is about protecting children. I bet Emma Thompson, Gabriel Myers, Zoey Sanderbox, Hassani Campbell, Marcus Fiesel, Haley Gray, and thousands of other children dead under their watch would have an entirely different story to tell...if they still had a voice. They don't because CPS failed to protect them or sent them to homes where they were killed. I don't give a rat's hairy ass what labels you want to pin on me or what names you want to call me but goddamn it, have some respect for those who died under their watch. I care about them, not some fucking CPS social worker or their boss's yearly bonus checks. Anyone who makes statements like this without doing research and knowing what they're talking about...like you...are as dangerous as the agencies they defend. Or maybe you are a social worker.

    • 2 years ago
  • CaptB
  • CaptB
    • +1
      CaptB  
    • divotdawg:

      I don't know if you have worked with parents that are abusive and substance abusing. The social workers and healthcare providers do the best they can. Always trying to side with the parents, rather than send every child to a foster home. So I will concede that you will find abuse and people hoping that parents will do the right thing and giving them chances.

      To say that these agencies are not needed is absolutely...well, something like Rush Limbaugh would say! Ridiculous.

      With your line of thinking, look at the abuse that the police departments across the U.S. Does that mean we should dismantle the FBI, homeland security, CIA, and all police departments because there is abuse?

    • 2 years ago
  • CaptB
    • +1
      CaptB  
    • divotdawg:

      Your insult is incredible, now I truly do believe that you are an abusive parent that has had your children taken away. WOW, I have to ask your highest level of education.

      Especially since you claimed in your last thread to be more intelligent than the person you responded?

    • 2 years ago
  • CaptB
    • 0
      CaptB  
    • divotdawg:

      I work in the ER has a healthcare provider. I deal with CPS, and those people are angels. As well as others that have to deal with children that are abused. I could go on and on about the children I have seen that are abused, and it is not an easy thought to erase.

      There are probably some cases out there in which someone did the wrong thing. However, they always try to believe that the parent will provide the best possible home. However, I have wanted to physically hurt people for abusing their children.

      I also wonder if you believe that religious beliefs shouldn't be trifled with by agencies such as CPS and govt agencies?

    • 2 years ago
  • Kizzda
  • neocongo
    • +11
      neocongo  

    • Very good news. No child left behind is a complete piece of crap legislation that, if continued, will insure America becomes one of the least competitive, developed nations in the world.

    • 2 years ago
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