Ed Sec on 'No Child Left Behind': 'We Are Lying to Children and Parents'

Sept. 24, 2009 — -- The Obama administration is gearing up for an overhaul of the Bush administration's controversial "No Child Left Behind" education reform law.

"Few laws have generated more debate. Few subjects divide educators so intensely," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said today. "Many teachers complain bitterly about NCLB's emphasis on testing. Principals hate being labeled as failures. Superintendents say it wasn't adequately funded. And many parents just view it as a toxic brand that isn't helping children learn."

The administration is planning to develop its proposal for reauthorizing the legislation in the coming months, after receiving recommendations and input from various stakeholders.

Duncan's comments today were made at the first of six "stakeholder forums" to be held on the topic with representatives from more than 160 groups, including the National Education Association, the National Governors' Association and the Business Roundtable.

In addition, Duncan has been travelling the country this summer on a "Listening and Learning" tour to gather information about education reform and how NCLB can be improved.

The current law -- approved by Congress with overwhelming support in 2001 and signed by President George W. Bush in 2002 -- requires students to be measured through standardized tests. Currently, states set their own standards for academic success and may risk federal funding if they fail to show adequate yearly progress in achieving their goals.

Critics claim the current system encouraged states to lower standards so that they could report significant progress.

Duncan agreed that the legislation fails to raise the bar for academic achievement.

"It unfairly labeled many schools as failures even when they were making progress," he said. "It places too much emphasis on raw test scores rather than student growth. And it is overly prescriptive in some ways while it is too blunt an instrument of reform in others.

"But the biggest problem with NCLB," he added, "is that it doesn't encourage high learning standards. In fact, it inadvertently encourages states to lower them. The net effect is that we are lying to children and parents by telling kids they are succeeding when they are not."