Joined by lawmakers, students and teachers in a White House auditorium, Obama praised the George W. Bush-era No Child Left Behind for having the right goals.
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“It often forced schools and school districts into cookie-cutter reforms that didn’t always produce the kinds of results that we wanted to see”, Obama said.
Although the new legislation grants states more autonomy in fixing low-performing schools and overseeing accountability initiatives, Snowberger said he is pleased with the legislation’s focus on student academic growth as an important measure of school and district performance. Dougherty County School administrators think the new law is a step in the right direction.
That’s instead of Washington mandating what critics had dubbed a one-size-fits-all approach to governing the country’s 100,000 public schools. President Obama and Congress are leaving No Child Left Behind policy and moving forward with the Every Student Succeeds Act.
“So with that let me sign this bill”, said President Obama as he signed into law the Every Student Succeeds Act.
Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he opposed the deal because it still gives too much power to Washington.
Obama also praised outgoing U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan-who was present for the signing ceremony-for his part in laying the foundation for the new law.
The Colorado Democrat – and former Superintendent of Denver Public Schools – helped write the measure and was a member of the House-Senate conference team that negotiated the final version.
Gridlock is usually the norm on Capitol Hill but the President welcomed this bipartisan effort to fix the “No Child Left Behind” education initiative.
Dr. Young said this new law would not change anything with Ortiz Elementary rated as “Improvement Required” for accountability.
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The bill would continue federally mandated reading and math exams in grades three to eight and once in high school, but the high stakes associated with those exams for underperforming schools would be diminished. But the legislation also encourages states to set caps on the amount of time students spend on testing. “We know there are other schools that are not hitting the mark yet”. In this new legislation we get rid of ‘adequate yearly progress, ‘ which is a measure that really didn’t work well at all, and we replace that program with actual support for the schools to give them the tools that they need for our students to thrive.
