Although healthcare is the President’s main concern at the moment, a revamp of the education system is not far behind. In fact the proposals for the revamp have already been unveiled.
The Obama Administration aims to rewrite President George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” law. The blueprint unveiled by the Administration does not follow many core principles of the 2002 law. This is sure to spark many a heated debate in Congress and probably go the way of the healthcare reform.
Obama is not satisfied with the way the law is prescribed and wants to set firmer standards which will increase the quality of education. The proposal is described as “tight on goals, loose on means” by Obama aides. The Bush law is seen as excessively prescriptive and punitive with a bias on math and reading. It is also criticized for the emphasis it places on standardized tests.
The Obama plan will set nationwide targets for success but allow states more leeway in how they achieve those targets. It also focuses more on individual student performances unlike the Bush law which looks at overall class performances. The law will place more responsibility on educators and lessen the government’s involvement in regulating the behavior of school districts. Instead of the current method where public schools must show annual progress (which is measured by the aforementioned standardized tests), the new law will ask the states to improve the standards of lagging schools.
The law will face a lot of opposition, especially from Teachers’ Unions as it prescribes mass firings of teachers in underperforming schools. The law is also criticized for the way it focuses on the top and bottom ends of school performance spectrum and does very little for the middle segment. The Obama Administration insists that this is a broad blueprint, indicating that changes will follow before it is presented as legislation.