Poll: Revise or scrap No Child Left Behind

PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A majority of Americans say they believe No Child Left Behind should be revised or eliminated, a Gallup poll released Monday indicated.

Forty-one percent of Americans say Congress should keep the act, but with major revisions, while 16 percent said they wanted to see President George W. Bush's signature education legislation eliminated, the Princeton, N.J.-based polling agency said. Twenty-one percent said they thought the bill should be kept, more or less, in its current form.

The No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law in 2002 as a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed in 1965. In its current form, NCLB relies on measuring student achievement through standardized testing, and tries to hold schools accountable for failing to make progress.

President Obama has signaled his desire to revise or scrap No Child Left Behind, and leaders of both parties seem to agree that some of the law's provisions need changing.

Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews conducted with 1,032 adults Jan. 14-16, 2011. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.