Can Obama fix America's schools?

The president wants to reform George W. Bush's landmark education law. Can Obama repair it — or should he start over?

Obama visits with middle schoolers in Virginia before giving a speech vowing to reform the No Child Left Behind Act before the next school year.
(Image credit: Getty)

President Obama has called for Congress to "fix" the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law before the start of the next school year, following claims that the law's exacting standards would brand more than 80 percent of schools as "failing." The president wants to overhaul President George W. Bush's signature schools policy by revising teaching standards and rewarding schools for high performance, rather than applying rigorous federal standards and punishing schools for doing poorly. The president also insists that Congress not reduce funding for education. "We can't cut the things that will make America more competitive," he said. Can Obama turn the much-criticized No Child Left Behind law into successful policy, or would he be better off starting from scratch? (See Obama's comments)

This law was a failure from the start: It's time to accept that the entire premise of No Child Left Behind was "based on a myth," says Diane Ravitch at National Journal. Namely, the claim that rigorous testing in Texas had produced a record level of academic success. The only problem? "It wasn't true." Students in Texas are no better off now than they were then — and nationally, students are far worse off. No Child Left Behind should be scrapped as soon as possible.

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