http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-637248.mp3
Albany, NY – THE NCLB BUS TOUR DRIVES INTO CLEVELAND, OHIO -
The No Child Left Behind law expires in a few months. That's prompted
dozens of studies and commission reports. Certainly not all...but most of
these reviews conclude that the law should be reauthorized...though no
one will venture a guess as to when that may happen. So the arguments
now focus on details in the legislation, and how much money to spend.
With that in mind, Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings hit the road
recently on her self-described No Child Left Behind Bus Tour. The bus
spent three days traveling America's heartland in Ohio and Indiana. The
bus tour kicked off in Cleveland with Secretary Spellings stopping at
Watterson-Lake Elementary School. Later in the day, she visited the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Museum After-School Program, which promotes science and technology learning through music. And finally,
in the evening, Spellings hosted a national parent town hall discussion.
That's where TBOOK caught up with her.
Dan Bobkoff reports. (3:05)
CONGRESSIONAL STATUS OF NCLB RENEWAL EFFORTS -
No matter how one looks at the current efforts to renew the No Child
Left Behind law, it's apparent the current Discussion Draft has sparked
strong emotions from democrats, republicans, the administration, and
education associations. For example, the two national teachers' unions
have started a campaign to rewrite language linking teacher bonuses to
student test scores. The House Education Committee draft would
encourage districts to experiment with pay-for-performance plans and
offer financial incentives to recruit teachers to hard-to-staff schools.
NEA President, Reg Weaver, says union locals are open to looking at compensation, but they don't want it mandated by law. The American Federation of Teachers had a similar response. House Education
Committee Chairman, George Miller, was surprised, because Miller
said the unions had endorsed a bill with similar pay proposals that he
and Senator Kennedy had introduced twice before. And the legislation
has many other areas of concern that are being revised. Two weeks
ago, we broadcast an interview with Education Secretary, Margaret
Spellings, explaining her criticisms of the Discussion Draft on the new
NCLB law. You can hear her comments online at our website,
www.wamc.org. Click on The Best of Our Knowledge, and then
Show # 889. For this week's show, TBOOK made repeated attempts
by phone and E-mail to Chairman George Miller, democrat, and
Congressman, Howard P. Buck McKeon, republican, to appear on this
program to explain their viewpoints. They are both on the same House Education and Labor Committee. As of when this show was produced,
we had received no replies from Chairman Miller. But Congressman
McKeon phoned back, and here's our conversation with him.
Glenn Busby reports. (9:57)
PROJECT RECONNECT FOR DROPOUTS -
Recent years have seen educators condemn the increasingly high
dropout rate from American high schools. Over the past four years,
officials in Pittsfield, Massachusetts have found that about half of its
dropouts do seek job placement assistance. But social service
agencies are not sure what's happening with the other half of the
dropouts. TBOOK finds out about Project Reconnect.
Carrie Saldo reports. (2:28)