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President Obama to unveil education plan Monday
 President Barack Obama will release a blueprint Monday for his long-awaited overhaul of the No Child Left Behind law, replacing annual benchmarks for schools with a goal of having all graduating students prepared "for college and a career.""Through this plan we are setting an ambitious goal: All students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career -- no matter who you are or where you come from," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address. "Achieving this goal will be difficult. It will take time. And it will require the skills, talents and dedication of many: principals, teachers, parents, students. But this effort is essential for our children and for our country." Obama first signaled his intent to push ahead with the overhaul this year in his budget released last month. The blueprint he will send to Congress on Monday will flesh out details of his plan. "What this plan recognizes is that while the federal government can play a leading role in encouraging the reforms and high standards we need, the impetus for that change will come from states, and from local schools and school districts," Obama said. "So, yes, we set a high bar -- but we also provide educators the flexibility to reach it." The president called for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which first passed in 1965 and has been reauthorized every five years. The law became known as NCLB during former President George W. Bush's administration. The 2002 NCLB law pushed schools to boost test scores each year, with the goal of having every student read and perform math on their grade level by 2014. But Education Secretary Arne Duncan has reportedly called this goal "utopian" and said the law does too little to reward schools for progress. Obama said that under the blueprint he'll release next week, schools that perform well would receive incentives, while those that fare poorly would face consequences. "Schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded, and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down," Obama said. "For the majority of schools that fall in between -- schools that do well but could do better -- we will encourage continuous improvement to help keep our young people on track for a bright future: prepared for the jobs of the 21st century. Posted by: Fred 2010-03-14 |
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