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BUSINESS COALITION FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND UPDATE, FEBRUARY 12, 2008

 

Reauthorizing NCLB  

Recent commentary urges Congress and Presidential candidates to focus on ensuring a high quality education for U.S. students. Excerpts from three articles are below.

Putting the ‘child' back in No Child Left Behind 
Amid the acrimony surrounding the law's reauthorization, we've lost sight of the fact that there are many changes we can agree on-and these would have the greatest direct impact on the nation's students.
Read more in Education Week >> 

Reauthorizing NCLB: Washington Times Editorial
Leaders of both parties say they are committed to reauthorizing the program, signed into law in 2002, and on Thursday a Republican staff member from the House Education and Labor Committee told attendees at a conference of the Commission on No Child Left Behind that a current draft version of the bill is 1,036 pages long but contains just 100 pages of disagreement between the parties. We hope these seemingly small differences can be ironed out in a timely way.      
Read more in The Washington Times >> 

Presidential campaigns need to focus more on education 
Is not the success of our economy inextricably linked to the quality of American education, preschool through college? I reason that if the economy is the No. 1 issue in the campaign for votes, then education has to be right there with it tied for first place. Not to mention the moral responsibility, in the greatest nation on Earth, to provide all its children with equal opportunities for success. 
Read more in the San Jose Mercury News >>

 
No Child Left Behind delivers on its promises
Education policy-makers are famous for making sweeping changes and then abandoning those changes for yet another approach once a new administration takes office. Like most of my professional colleagues, I was smug in my opinion that NCLB would become the "flavor of the month" and then die a slow death.
I was wrong. NCLB will prove to be the crowning achievement of President Bush's domestic legacy. I have never seen anything that has made more of a positive difference than this legislation. The success of NCLB is simple: It delivers on its promise in several key areas.
Read more in The Birmingham News >>

NCLB on the Road

SpellingsU.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has been traveling across the states to garner support for reauthorizing NCLB and demonstrate its success in raising student achievement in each state. Click here to track Secretary Spellings' travels as she highlights NCLB's statewide successes.

  • Education Secretary Margaret Spellings stops in Alabama to discuss raising student achievement
    U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley today hosted an education policy roundtable with state legislators, educators and business leaders at the Alabama State House in Montgomery to discuss how the federal government can partner with the state and districts to support innovation and get every child on grade level or better. She also met with African American leaders at a roundtable meeting hosted by 100 Black Men of America to discuss raising student achievement in Alabama.
    Read more about it in the Associated Press >> or the Montgomery Advertiser >>

Latest News

Finding time for success
 Under mounting pressure to raise achievement in public schools, a handful of states and cities and many charter schools are seeking to squeeze more hours, days and even weeks into the academic calendar to ensure students get the reading and math lessons they need without sacrificing music, art or even recess. The Washington Post discusses the advantages of the extended day. 
Read more in the Washington Post >>

Ed. budget funds No Child Left Behind
 The budget for the U.S. Education Department demonstrates commitment to No Child Left Behind, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said Monday. President George W. Bush unveiled Monday the Education Department budget, which included $24.5 billion for No Child Left Behind and $14.4 billion for Title I grants to high-poverty schools.
Read more in United Press International >>

Charters' competitive edge
 Students succeed when schools have five key components, argues Eli Broad, and charter schools demonstrate how these components lead to school success.
Read more in the Los Angeles Times >> 

Texas study finds teacher quality gaps throughout state
 According to a report released today by The Education Trust, low-income students, Hispanic students and African-American students in the 50 largest school districts in Texas are less likely to be assigned to fully certified teachers, less likely to be assigned to experienced teachers, and less likely to attend a school with a stable teaching force than are other students educated in those very same districts.
Read more >>

Announcement

 Business Roundtable Education & the Workforce Task Force names new chairman

Business Roundtable has named William D. Green, Accenture chairman and CEO, as chairman of its Education & Workforce Task Force. Mr. Green will succeed Arthur F. Ryan, the current chairman and former CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc. Mr. Green will advance the efforts of Business Roundtable, an association of 160 chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies, to ensure that American students and workers have the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in the growing international economy 

Read more >>

 

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