Obama

Obama

Tara Rose
Professor Lewis
EN 101
November 18, 2008
McCain’s and Obama’s Views on No Child Left Behind Act
“Change.” Change has been a word brought up often in this election. Obama promises to bring “change” to America. How are we going to change our education system? How do the candidates plan to change the education system? In 2001, President George Bush, reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, with his new piece of legislation, The No Child Left Behind Act. This was the largest reform of federal education policy in any generation. However, many believe this Act had little or no impact on Americans. Nevertheless, both candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, plan to keep the act intact but with their own revisions, and both parties stress the importance of every child receiving what they call a “world-class education. (Internation Reading Association: Reading Today: McCain vs. Obama)McCain’s key concept in changing the No Child Left Behind Act, is giving parents and their children the choice of any school through charter schools, vouchers, or tax credits for private schools, while Obama’s main focus is recruiting new teachers and paying them higher salaries; I believe Obama’s plan to reform the No Child Left Behind Act is a more productive plan, and that he has a better approach to reforming the No Child Left Behind Act.
The No Child Left Behind Act, NCLB, was introduced on January 23, 2001, immediately after George Bush stepped into office. This act requires all public schools to provide a state-wide standardized test yearly to every student. Schools receiving funding must make a progress in tests scores every year. If schools fail to do so, they are published in their town’s local news paper as “failing schools,” and parents have the option to transfer their children to another school. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress results, released in July 2005, forty-three states have improved in academics or stayed...

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