President Bush visits third graders at Horace Greeley Elementary in Chicago, Illinois, Monday, January 7, 2008. (baiduhai photo by Heather Stone/baiduhai/MCT)
by Matthew Hay Brown
Visiting a Chicago elementary school today, President Bush said he was open to increasing flexibility in the No Child Left Behind Act – but threatened to veto any changes that would weaken educational accountability, and said he was prepared to reform it himself if Congress didn’t cooperate.
“Look, I recognize some people don’t like accountability,” Bush said today at Horace Greeley Elementary School. “In other words, accountability says if you’re failing, we’re going to expose that and expect you to change. Accountability also says that when you’re succeeding you’ll get plenty of praise.
“I know No Child Left Behind has worked. And I believe this country needs to build upon the successes. The philosophy behind No Child Left Behind was in return for money there ought to be results. It’s pretty commonsensical it seems like to me.”
Bush’s signature domestic policy, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, which requires public schools to show improvements in student achievement in reading and math or face sanctions, comes up for reauthorization this year. The sides are establishing their positions for the debate to come.
Critics say the law has turned schools into test preparation centers that focus on reading and math to the neglect of other subjects. They also say the law has never been funded to the levels needed for it to work.
“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,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today in response to Bush’s comments.
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“Accountability measures have proven far too punitive, with no recognition for schools that have made incremental progress. States have been given little flexibility in implementing the law’s requirements. And NCLB has been vastly under funded since it was first enacted – the President recently vetoed the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill that would have provided an increase to Title I and other programs authorized by NCLB.”
Bush said there was room for improving the law.
“We need to increase the flexibility for our states and districts,” he said. “We don’t want the No Child Left Behind Act to be viewed as something that hamstrings innovation. There ought to be flexibility in the system. We’re going to provide help for struggling schools – extra help.”
Bush said he was believed that he could reach an agreement with Congress on a reauthorization bill. But if not, he said, he has instructed Education Secretary Margaret Spellings “to analyze reforms that she can do through the administrative process.”
“She’s been talking with members of Congress to give schools credit for growth and achievement that individual students make from year to year – in other words, flexibility in the accountability system without undermining the core principle of accountability,” he said. “We’re going to implement a more accurate system for measuring high school drop-out rate, and make it easier for our students to enroll in the tutoring programs. There are things we can do, and must do, by working together.”