Democratic Candidates Want Better Tests for NCLB
How would NCLB change if a Democrat were in the Oval Office next year?
The Democratic candidates say they would continue holding schools accountable, but they would radically change the types of tests used to measure schools' success, according to the rhetoric of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
Sen. Obama wants tests that "track student progress for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner," his campaign Web site says. Sen. Clinton believes that tests should provide "individualized accountability based on how [individual] students do," she said at a New Hampshire campaign event. She also promises to "end the unfunded mandate known as No Child Left Behind," her campaign Web site says.
But neither one says whether they would maintain the law's requirement that all students be assessed in reading and mathematics in grades 3-8 and once in high school.
You can read about it in Democrats' K-12 Views Differ, Subtly. In the YouTube videos below, you can watch each candidate answer an NCLB question.
Comments
David,
As usuual, thanks for keeping us up to snuff on NCLB.
It sounds like both Senators are advocating for "growth models" where individual student progress is traced from year to year as opposed to kids being part of a cohort as done in the original legislation.
This is a very good change and I believe one that was in the Miller McKeon draft from last autumn. Ted Kennedy is also on board with this amended accountability plan.
Posted by: Paul Hoss | February 25, 2008 7:10 PM