As 2 Bushes Try to Fix Schools, Tools Differ
This is an important article about how NCLB can be improved, using Florida's A-Plus Plan as a model. This is a fair summary: "It is not that Governor Jeb Bush (and his legislature) got it exactly right, while his brother (and Congress) ran amuck. But there is little doubt that NCLB needs repairing, something that Congress can do when the federal law is reauthorized."
The problem with the article is that it focuses too much on the "brotherly squabble" and, until you literally get to the very last line, you'd think Jeb Bush opposes NCLB, when nothing could be further from the truth. The brothers are in fact 95% on the same page in terms of the core principles of NCLB and how to improve it -- it's just a lot easier to get things done in Florida than with Federal legislation.
At the Sept. 12 news conference, called to publicize a broad review of education initiatives, Governor Bush listened approvingly as Dr. Peterson praised the A-Plus plan and criticized No Child Left Behind. But the governor has been careful to note what he considers to be the federal law’s contributions.
Florida, for instance, began focusing increased attention on disabled and limited-English students after the federal law required states to improve those students’ achievement, Governor Bush said.
He approaches the law, he said, “not from the standpoint of saying it’s bad, but that it’s good and needs to be better.”
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As 2 Bushes Try to Fix Schools, Tools Differ
By SAM DILLON
posted by Whitney Tilson at 9:57 PM
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