ENGEL SUPPORTS REFORMS TO FLAWED "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND"
Press Release
Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) gave his full support to the Obama Administration's plans to reform "No Child Left Behind," after continued resistance by Congress to make changes to the flawed program.
"I originally voted for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) because I, like many of my colleagues in Congress, were assured that it would be fully funded. From its inception, NCLB has failed to meet expectations. It puts too high an emphasis on standardized testing and has been grossly underfunded. There are no standard solutions that fit every school in the same manner. What results instead are square pegs being forced into round slots, and schools subjected to punishments for failing to reach artificial goals. It also doesn't take into account schools that are greatly improving, but are still below the desired results. We should be rewarding these schools, not cutting their budgets.
"Tens of thousands of schoolchildren in my district have been affected by the flawed program. Budget cuts to programs resulting from failure to reach NCLB levels have hurt already-struggling schools. State cuts are now making things worse in far too many school districts. In addition, the act of transferring students from one struggling school to another is not the way to improve their learning environment.
"Whatever the Obama Administration does to fix the system can only have a positive outcome, because it really can't get any worse. In order for America to compete, we must have a Grade A education system for our future generations. As a former teacher, I understand how important this is for our children, and our families. The flexibility under NCLB that New York, and other states, may now enjoy thanks to this action by the President will give many more students a better chance to succeed than they have seen over the last few years."
The Administration says the proposal for fixing NCLB calls for "college and career-ready standards, more great teachers and principals, robust use of data and a more flexible and targeted accountability system based on measuring annual student growth." The final details on the reform package should be made public in September.
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