Department of Education chief of staff gives interview on NCLB
After a recent speech to a group of teachers in Schaumburg, Illinois, David Dunn, chief of staff of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), sat for an interview with the Chicago Daily Herald on the subject of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). While Mr. Dunn is the first to acknowledge NCLB is not perfect. But on the verge of the law's scheduled reauthorization he is optimistic the goals will be met. He points to progress that's been made and says the past five years have revealed ways to make the law better this time around.
Chicago Daily Herald
By Erin Holmes
[Full story]
[Editor’s Note: The full transcript of the interview is provided above. In response to a question about NCLB’s "unfulfilled promise," Mr. Dunn identified the "highly qualified teacher" mandate as continuing to pose challenges. He acknowledged that the 2006 deadline for 100% of nation’s teachers to be "highly qualified" as defined by NCLB was missed and noted that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings recently had sent out a letter to chief state school officers acknowledging that, "We're still not meeting it this year, one year later." That letter and an ED chart breaking down the "highly qualified" percentages state by state are below.]
[Secretary Spellings letter]
[ED highly qualified teacher chart]