SAN DIEGO, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Big changes are coming to the No Child Left Behind Act with the ascendancy of Democrats in the White House and U.S. Congress, educators say.
The 2002 law, which mandates school testing and imposes sanctions on public schools that fail to meet student achievement levels, is due for reauthorization and will likely be significantly altered by Democratic lawmakers, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Monday.
U.S. House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., has said he is aiming to "make the law more fair, more flexible and better funded" while working with President-elect Barack Obama.
California education officials told the newspaper that while No Child Left Behind has some good points, such as forcing schools to raise test scores, its tone was punitive and its mandates to schools were never fully funded.
"It's a good law in that it made us focus on what we should have been doing all along: student achievement, attendance, math and reading scores and other things," San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Terry Grier told the Union-Tribune. "But it was so punitive from Day One."
