Education Secretary Discusses No Child Left Behind During Northwest Tour

EDUCATION 

By Chris Lehman

Salem, OR  January 17, 2008 3:46 p.m.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings stopped in Washington and Oregon to talk about No Child Left Behind.  The six-year-old law rates schools based on math and reading test scores.  

In Salem, Spelling visited an elementary school and spoke with the state’s Board of Education.  She says federal officials are pleased with the way the law has affected the education system.

But she says there is room for improvement.

Margaret Spellings:  “I obviously recognize the challenges that this state and every other state is facing with respect to how to do this job.  But I don’t hear from them or frankly any other about a lack of motivation to figure out how to meet and address those challenges.”

Spellings says the law might be adjusted to provide a more nuanced way to rate student performance.

Critics of No Child Left Behind say the law is an unfunded mandate.  They say it focuses too heavily on reading and math at the expense of other subjects.

Schools that fail to keep up with the guidelines face more federal oversight.

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© 2008 OPB