K-12 News - In Depth: No Child Left Behind

Today I will be focusing one the issue of No Child Left Behind by focusing on a a related series of stories. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has been touring the United States recently trying to promote NCLB and quell any nay sayers or people with problems. She recently visited both West Virginia and Virginia about the subject, and to put it kindly, she did not go over very well. Most of the news coming out of any article about the visit was generally negative, ranging from simple complaints about how to test students who are of Limited English Proficiency, to outright discussion of pulling out of the bill, some commenting that the tour is just "a fly-by" and "...going through the motions". No matter how you look at it, things look dubious for NLCB at the moment. Spellings does not seem to want to budge on much either. She does acknowledge that there are some problems with NCLB, but she also says that they are fixable and we should not worry. Furthermore, she warns VA lawmakers that "it wouldn't be in VA's best interest to walk away from such federal resources." It seems pretty clear that things are getting nasty and pretty serious though if the state is willing to threaten to pull out of the deal. This isn't to say that NCLB still does not have supporters. It should be noted that VA already receives substantial leeway in certain area's including the number of minority or disabled to be cut off at 50 children rather than 30. The four latest links in the K-12 News Links are all about NCLB. It chronicles Spelling's trip to W.VA earlier in March followed by her trip to Richmond VA later that March.