How can we give students options when their public schools are failing them?
What exactly is NCLB and how is it effecting our education system?
How do we ensure that all children are prepared to enter kindergarten?
Why are we struggling to recruit and retain teachers? What reforms do the candidates propose to solve the teacher shortage and improve their working conditions?
With a struggling economy, should lawmakers place further emphasis on federally-funded school-to-work programs? Moreover, do they work?
Who are the key players changing education today?
Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP)
What’s Next with NCLB?
Because NCLB was up for reauthorization in the fall of 2007, new proposals and adjustments of the program are currently under consideration. Some of the proposed changes to NCLB include:
- Differentiated Accountability: Targeting Resources to Schools with the Greatest Need (Proposed pilot program)
- Allows states to differentiate between schools in need of slight improvement and those that require significant reform. This will allow participating states to vary the intensity and type of interventions to reflect the degree of reform needed and the academic reasons that led to a school’s identification for improvement.
- Clarification of how student achievement should be measured and the use of more than a single standardized test score in determining student academic achievement.
- The general restructuring of the accountability system, the implementation and the uniformity of implementation of NCLB regulations
- Prescribe a uniform formula to calculate how many students graduate from high school on time, and how many drop out. The compiled data will be made public so that people can compare how students of various races, backgrounds, and income levels are performing.
