The United States Senate last week passed the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA), a bill designed to replace the Bush-era No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
The following statements from education policy experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Director of Communications Jim Lakely at [email protected] and 312/377-4000.
“Watching the rewrite of No Child Left Behind has been a long, disappointing process. Passage of the Every Child Achieves Act, the Senate’s bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act or NCLB, is not what many politicians are trying to present it as because it will not dial back federal control over education in the way promised.
“At this point, the ECAA allows existing testing mandates, including testing schedules, to remain. States supposedly are guaranteed they can retain control over education, but the ECAA includes no process or measure for states to enforce that. And the ECAA never acknowledges myriad concerns over assessments, student privacy, education funding, and standards.
“This version of the ECAA restores minimal local control. Legislation this massive, long acknowledged to need fixing, should be more than a single step in the right direction. I’d encourage parents, teachers, and education advocates to contact their legislators, both state and federal, to inform them this simply will not do. Wrapping the same old garbage into a pretty bi-partisan package isn’t good enough.”
Heather Kays
Research Fellow, The Heartland Institute
Managing Editor, School Reform News
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“The ECAA passage in the Senate clearly shows a desire to maintain federal control over education. Maintaining these federally mandated programs is stifling innovation for teachers and students. Education should focus on the students, not the system the ECAA perpetuates.”
Lennie Jarratt
Project Manager, Education
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
The Heartland Institute is a 31-year-old national nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site or call 312/377-4000.
Heather Kays is a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute and former managing editor of School Reform News, a national monthly publication.
Lennie Jarratt is the former director of the Center for Education Opportunities at The Heartland Institute
