House Leaders Debate Education Bill

As a committed educator, you know firsthand that student success is one factor that can foster a lifelong love of learning. That's why I believe the cornerstone of NCLB must continue to be promoting success for all students. Since the law was enacted, we've had some accomplishments and some challenges. For example, under current law, the primary model for determining whether schools and districts are making progress in educating all students compares the performance of students in a particular grade against the performance of students in that same grade in the previous year. We're committed to moving toward a different and more accurate model based on individual student growth, which will compare the achievement of the same students and give states credit for student performance over time. It is my hope that these reforms will address some of the shortcomings in the original version of NCLB while continuing to improve educational opportunities for all of our nation's students.

We are trying to change the law to address many of the concerns you raise. First, we will improve assessments so they measure critical thinking, problem solving and other important skills. This should help drive classroom instruction away from "drill-and-kill" and teaching low-level skills toward teaching children in a way that creates learning gains that endure and that inspire a love of education.

Second, we will allow accountability systems that consider student growth across learning levels. This will ensure that teachers get credit for the efforts they put in by taking into account where their students start out.

Finally, we will give states incentives to make their standards relevant to the needs of college and the workplace so that instruction is more relevant and rigorous.