Regulatory Issues

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HIGHLIGHTS


Congress is under increasing pressure to change No Child Left Behind because it has failed to fulfill its own fundamental purpose: raising the achievement of all students and closing achievement gaps among students from different backgrounds.

The Obama Administration has proposed a "Blueprint" for changing the law. NEA supports some elements of the Blueprint, but we believe it has significant problems. Of particular concern are a continued reliance on test scores as a means of evaluating and categorizing schools and teachers. The blueprint also calls for shifting funds into competitive grants like those of Race To The Top, which create winners and losers rather than helping all children.

Tell Congress that every child deserves a great public school, and that legislators need listen to educators if they want to learn how to make that happen.

 

Where We Stand

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is the current incarnation of President Lyndon Johnson’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), whose purpose was to raise achievement and close achievement gaps. NEA strongly supports these goals and is working to give all children great public schools. But educators know that NCLB as currently written can’t get us there.

NEA has made many proposals for rewriting and improving the law.

Statements of principle.

Detailed proposals to Congress (May, 2010).

In brief:

  • ESEA should promote innovation, high expectations, and encourage development of 21st century skills in public schools.
  • ESEA should end the obsession with high-stakes, poor-quality tests by developing high-quality assessment systems that provide multiple ways for students to show what they have learned.
  • ESEA should help provide great educators and school leaders for every student.
  • ESEA should promote public education as a shared responsibility of parents, communities, educators, and policymakers.
  • ESEA should provide increased funding to all states and school districts to meet the growing demand for globally-competitive education of U.S. students.