January 27, 2008

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Kennedy, Obama and NCLB

Filed under: Education by Leo Casey @ 9:57 pm

The New York Times reports that Senator Ted Kennedy will endorse Democratic presidential candidate Barrack Obama at a campaign rally tomorrow.

There is an important education subtext — No Child Left Behind — to the Kennedy endorsement. His endorsement of Obama follows on that of Representative George Miller of California. Kennedy was the main Democratic sponsor of NCLB in the Senate; Miller its main Democratic sponsor in the House. Both men have indicated that they want to reauthorize the law without any meaningful reforms — particularly, proposed changes that would provide relief from excessive standardized testing and unrealistic Annual Yearly Progress benchmarks.

There is a growing consensus among NCLB hawks like Kennedy and Miller that Obama would be much more amenable to their position. Of the Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton has been most outspoken in her criticism of the current version of the law.

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  • [...] endorses Obama. An NCLB subtext? 28Jan08 Leo Casey posts in today’s EdWize, the UFT’s blog, that the Ted Kennedy endorsement of Barack Obama has an NCLB subtext. Casey [...]

    Pingback by Kennedy endorses Obama. An NCLB subtext? « PREA Prez — January 28, 2008 @ 1:45 pm

  • re. Kennedy, Obama and NCLB

    “There is a growing consensus among NCLB hawks like Kennedy and Miller that Obama would be much more amenable to their position. Of the Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton has been most outspoken in her criticism of the current version of the law There is a growing consensus among NCLB hawks like Kennedy and Miller that Obama would be much more amenable to their position. Of the Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton has been most outspoken in her criticism of the current version of the law.”Leo Casey

    Click here: YouTube - Barack Obama: No Child Left Behind

    On June 18, 2008 Barack Obama met with The Des Moines Register editorial board Monday to discuss the No Child Left Behind legislation .At that time he spoke of how NCLB needed to be “changed and improved in order to be reauthorized.”Obama indicated that there are not enough resources in NCLB to meet what is to be measured realistically; teachers were not involved in crafting this legislation; and modifications are needed on how we make assessments.

    The No Child Left Behind Legislation of 2001 (Public Law 107-110), has been a wake up call for many. This United States federal law is the key to a reauthorization of a number of federal programs that aim to improve the performance of America’s primary and secondary schools by increasing the standards of accountability for states, school districts and schools, as well as providing parents more flexibility in choosing which schools their children will attend.

    As we prepare for the Presidental Election 2008, perhaps we should strongly consider the record of Senator Hillary Rodman Clinton. She is a candidate with a consistent track record on educational issues; a candidate who advocates a “fix or pitch” approach to dealing with No Child Left Behind; a candidate that has stood with the UFT, AFT and NYSUT.

    Randi Weingarten is right :“There is no better champion of our schools and our teachers than Hillary Rodham Clinton. Throughout her public life, Hillary has been a relentless advocate for children and working families - And she intuitively understands the challenges our teachers face - especially in urban districts - and we are confident that their she has a long and distinguished record as a good friend and champion of public education, and she has a solid and well thought out ideas for improving the nation’s schools.”

    Phyllis C. Murray
    UFT Chapter Leader

    Comment by phyllis c. murray — January 29, 2008 @ 10:55 pm

  • [...] night, Leo Casey hypothesized on Edwize that Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama was related to NCLB. Like Scott Elliott (a reporter with the Dayton Daily News), I’m skeptical. While George Miller and [...]

    Pingback by Sherman Dorn: Party trumps policy — February 4, 2008 @ 11:38 am

  • [...] we have noted in the past [here and here], we are of the view that there are real educational policy differences between Obama and [...]

    Pingback by Obama and Clinton: Educational Policy Differences | Edwize — February 20, 2008 @ 4:32 pm

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