Manhattan: Call to Change No Child Left Behind Law

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/14/nyregion/14mbrfs-002.html



Manhattan: Call to Change No Child Left Behind Law

By SEWELL CHAN
Published: August 14, 2006

Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg called on Congress yesterday to make changes in the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, which is up for reauthorization by January. In an op-ed article in The Washington Post, the officials, both Republicans, said the federal government should adopt the National Assessment of Educational Progress as a nationwide standard for measuring proficiency, rather than letting states set their own standards. They also called for measuring educational progress by considering the individual records of students, not just the total number of students meeting proficiency standards. They called for schools to receive grades, rather than just being rated as passing or failing, and they called for linking teacher pay to performance, paying teachers more in some instances and toughening standards for teacher tenure. It was the second time this month that the mayor had written about educational issues in a national forum. On Aug. 3, The Los Angeles Times published an op-ed article by Mr. Bloomberg and Richard M. Daley, the mayor of Chicago and a Democrat, in favor of mayoral takeovers of urban school districts.