NCLB Overhaul

Tomorrow, President Obama will give an outline for overhauling the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law that was put in place in 2002 by former President Bush. The new education policy would not require schools to meet annual benchmarks as NCLB now requires. Instead, the plan would provide incentives for the best schools and teachers.

President Obama released a video yesterday that addressed the education issues in the United States. As he stated, "the nation that out-educates us today, will out-compete us tomorrow."



The nation's high school graduation rates have fallen behind that of other nations. President Obama said that he plans to prepare every child for a career and college. And according to the Sam Dillion's NYTimes article,  President Obama's plan will retain some key aspects of the current NCLB law - including its requirement for annual reading and mathematics tests - but the new plan will also propose some far-reaching changes.  According to the article:

The administration would replace the law's pass-fail school grading system with one that would measure individual students' academic growth and judge schools based not on test scores alone but also on indicators like pupil attendance, graduation rates and learning climate. And while the proposal calls for more vigorous interventions in failing schools, it would also reward top performers and lessen federal interference in tens of thousands of reasonably well-run schools in the middle. 

The new plan appears to take a fuller approach to evaluating schools. Including other indicators is a great step toward the broader evaluation. I particular like the fact that students' academic growth will be used. However, the plan is already receiving criticism. The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi  Weingarten says that the plan puts all of the responsibility on the teachers.

The new proposal would require states to develop new teacher evaluations that are partly based on whether their students are learning. These would replace the current emphasis that NCLB has on certifying that all teachers have valid credentials.

The administration has also added $100 million to the 2011 budget so schools can offer more courses and not only focus on math and reading. It is not clear how effective these proposals will be in broadening the curriculum.

Evidently the President is only providing Congress with an outline and is expecting them to come up with the details. Let's see how this ends up.

NCLB Overhaul