Obama Administration's Education Reform Plan Emphasizes Flexibility, Resources and Accountability for Results
"he Obama administration's blueprint to overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) will support state and local efforts to help ensure that all students graduate prepared for college and a career.

Following the lead of the nation's governors and state education leaders, the plan will ask states to ensure that their academic standards prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace, and to create accountability systems that recognize student growth and school progress toward meeting that goal. This will be a key priority in the reform of NCLB, which was signed into law in 2002 and is the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).

"We will work with Congress on a bipartisan basis to reauthorize ESEA this year," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said about the blueprint, which the Obama administration released on Saturday. "We owe it to our children and our country to act now."

NCLB highlighted the achievement gap and created a national conversation about student achievement. But it also created incentives for states to lower their standards; emphasized punishing failure over rewarding success; focused on absolute scores, rather than recognizing growth and progress; and prescribed a pass-fail, one-size-fits-all series of interventions for schools that miss their goals. The administration's proposal addresses these challenges, while continuing to shine a bright light on closing the achievement gap..."
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A Blueprint for Reform: The Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
"...My Administration’s blueprint for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act is not only a plan to renovate a flawed law, but also an outline for a reenvisioned
federal role in education. This is a framework to guide our deliberations and
shared work – with parents, students, educators, business and community leaders, elected
officials, and other partners – to strengthen America’s public education system..."