Commission Suggests Changes to No Child Left Behind Law
Defending the provisions, the commissioners emphasized they are trying to do "what's best for kids," not adults. But Hobart took issue with that goal. "We can't do what's good for kids and not do what's good for adults," he said. "It's totally unfair to the kids as well as the teachers."
Hobart also pointed out that the teacher quality provisions–and many others in the report–all depend upon a $400 million commitment from the federal government, the cost required to build a sophisticated student information system in every state within four years, another of the report's recommendations.
Behind all of the commission's ideas is a strident call for urgency. "This is the challenge of our age," Barnes says, citing an international test in which American students rank behind international peers. "This [determines] whether we have a generation of children that are going to be able to compete internationally. That in turn determines whether we're going to be a successful nation."
advertisement
