Tweaking of 'No Child' Seen

And kudos to Spellings for firmly supporting NCLB.  This is a great rebuttal to a lot of the whining that's going on:

for people who say, 'Wah, wah, we can't have spelling bees because we have to focus on math and reading' -- let's measure the spelling," she said.

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Tweaking of 'No Child' Seen
Education Chief Urges Bigger Role for States in Initiative

By Lois Romano
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 31, 2006; A04

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/30/AR2006083002914.html

As schools nationwide open for business, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings took the opportunity yesterday to compare the centerpiece of the administration's education policy to soap.

"I like to talk about No Child Left Behind as Ivory soap. It's 99.9 percent pure," Spellings told reporters over coffee. "There's not much needed in the way of changes. . . . As much grist as there was for the mill five years ago on various fronts . . . we've come a long way in a short time in a big system affecting 50 million kids."

In a casual meeting at the agency, and with no particular agenda, Spellings said she believes NCLB -- a law that requires annual student assessments -- simply needs tweaking, and she emphasized that it is time to take it to the next level of development. Critics have long complained that the compliance requirements for NCLB puts too much stress on state resources and educators, many of whom say they must teach to the test at the expense of other learning.