What to do about "No Child Left Behind?"

"No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) a phrase those involved in education look upon with either hope or concern. The hope comes from the desire to see all children reach their full potential. The concern stems from the way the federal government has implemented this program. Education has always been looked upon as a state responsibility; however, with the passage of NCLB a number of years ago there has been a dramatic shift in who educators are reacting to. The federal government has replaced the states and parents with regard to accountability. Some say this is good for the system, as an educator and legislator I'm not sure what planet these people come from. I will acknowledge there have been some bright spots related to NCLB, that being the illumination of poor performance for some students within the education system and the need to provide attention to those students. Where I take exception to NCLB is the top down management and the punitive nature of that management. It needs to be re-evaluated before it is reauthorized by the federal government.

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has been on the cutting edge of what improvements are necessary to the existing law. This week I will be a member of a new task force to make recommendations of how we can improve the existing statute. I would hope that if you have feed back you would email those issues to me so that I might be able to use that feedback in the discussion. This meeting will be one of others that will be discussing this issue and I look forward to a healthy debate.