NCLB the focus of rival camps at Democratic Party Convention
According to the New York Sun, a bitter rift inside the Democratic Party over testing, teachers, and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was expected to be exposed at the party's convention in Denver. Although everyone says the goal is to improve schools, one group of activists favors keeping NCLB mostly intact and pressing even more aggressive measures, such as firing teachers whose students do not score well on tests. Another group argues for overhauling the law, is less supportive of testing, and says failing schools need support, not punishments. Both groups say they believe they have Senator Barack Obama’s ear and support, and Mr. Obama's circle of education advisers includes people with ties to each camp. Yet the groups remain bitterly at odds and appear to be jockeying for Mr. Obama's attention. They have been circulating rival manifestos for months, both intended to influence federal as well as state and local politics. People on both sides said they believe Mr. Obama is in step with their positions.
The executive director of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), Joseph Williams, who is organizing the pre-convention event featuring New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, said Mr. Obama shares his group's support for aggressive change. He pointed to several signs that Mr. Obama is in favor of aggressive change, including his support for charter schools and that the Democratic Party platform now lays out clearer support for removing ineffective teachers. Duke University professor Helen Ladd, a co-chairwoman of the opposing policy manifesto—known as the Broader, Bolder Agenda—said Mr. Obama's support for early-childhood education and beefed-up after-school programs is in line with the group's positions. Mr. Klein, whose group is called the Education Equality Project, met with Obama aides along with the Reverend Al Sharpton. Their group also recruited the signature of Senator McCain, who announced his support along with a tough push that Mr. Obama should sign on, too. Jonathan Schnur, a New York City-based former aide to Vice President Gore who is seen as a member of the first camp, said that dividing policy into two groups—he described them as for accountability on the one hand and for resources and support on the other—presents a “false choice.” “We as a country must focus on both to address a very serious problem that we have in education in America,” he said.
Source: New York Sun, 8/22/08, By Elizabeth Green
[Editor’s Note: Links to both manifestos on NCLB and to the Education Equality Project are below. For a general overview of where things stand with NCLB, see the Christian Science Monitor article, which notes, “For public-school officials, one big question is whether a revised law will shift the balance of power back toward them” from the federal government. The newly released 40th Annual Phi Delta Kappa (PDK)/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward Public Schools includes survey results on NCLB. A summary of the results and the report itself are at the link to the NSBA Center for Public Education. NSBA’s positions on NCLB reauthorization are available at the last link.]
DFER NCLB policy briefing memo
Broader, Bolder Agenda
Education Equality Project
Christian Science Monitor, 8/21/08, By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo
Center for Public Education on PDK/Gallup poll
NSBA Office of Advocacy resources on NCLB reauthorization