Democrats Offer Plans to Revamp Schools Law
On Tuesday, about 60 prominent educators and academics issued another manifesto, which criticized the federal No Child Left Behind law and argued that schools alone could not close a racial achievement gap rooted in economic inequality. They urged a new emphasis on health clinics and other antipoverty programs that could help poor students arrive at school ready to learn.
The groups issuing the statements were composed overwhelmingly of Democrats...
The other manifesto was signed by two schools superintendents, Beverly L. Hall of Atlanta and Rudy Crew of Miami-Dade County, and Thomas W. Payzant, the former superintendent in Boston, as well as the civil rights leader Julian Bond and former Attorney General Janet Reno, among others.
It criticized the No Child Left Behind law, Mr. Bush’s signature domestic initiative, as narrowing instruction in some schools to little more than reading and math, and called for a “broader, bolder approach” that would increase investment in health and other services in poor communities and rely less exclusively on schools to solve the nation’s social problems.
Democrats Offer Plans to Revamp Schools Law
Democrats are dividing into camps as they debate a new course for education policy after President Bush leaves office.
On Wednesday, a group of a dozen prominent educators and lawmakers, led by Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein of New York and the Rev. Al Sharpton, said the United States’ public schools shortchanged poor black and Latino children in a way that was “shameful,” and urged Washington to squeeze teachers and administrators harder to raise achievement among minorities.
posted by Whitney Tilson at 6:23 PM
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