Nov 18, 2008 Posted | 0 comments

No Child Left Behind Debate at NewTalk.org - Should We Scrap NCLB?

The education debate continues over at NewTalk.org. The topic at hand - the final in a month-long series on education - is whether we should scrap No Child Left Behind.

Jay P. Greene is moderating this debate. He says on his own blog, “Let them all talk.”

Ed is Watching is impressed by the star-studded cast of debaters:

“Panelists include Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform, Neal McCluskey from Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom, the Hoover Institution’s Eric Hanushek, and Elaine Gantz Berman from the Colorado State Board of Education.”

Below is the full press release for the event [fonts/layout from the original] - if you’ve got time and/or a well-reasoned opinion, weigh in.

NEW YORK – November 18, 2008 – The online discussion site NewTalk (www.NewTalk.org) will host a fourth and final installment in its special month-long series of conversations on education. Centered on the possibility of ending No Child Left Behind, the three-day discussion will run November 18 - 20.

At its inception, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) had worthy goals of improving teacher quality, raising achievement levels, and increasing accountability in education. However, implementation has proven problematic and positive results have been few and far between. This raises the question: should we scrap NCLB?

Before that decision can be made, it must be determined if the program’s failures have been the result of a lack of resources or something inherent in the program itself. Can NCLB be fixed, or should we discontinue the program and address its goals with new legislation? This and other important questions will be explored by a panel of education policy experts including:

· Elaine Gantz Berman - Colorado Board of Education / Common Good Colorado Board of Directors;

· Jay Greene - Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute;

· Eric Hanushek - Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University;

· Richard D. Kahlenberg - Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation;

· Sandy Kress - Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, and Senior Advisor to President Bush on NCLB;

· Neal P. McCluskey - Associate Director, Center for Educational Freedom, The Cato Institute;

· Judith Rizzo - Executive Director and CEO, James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy;

· Andrew J. Rotherham - Co-Founder and Co-Director, Education Sector;

· Richard Rothstein - Research Associate. Economic Policy Institute;

· Martin West - Assistant Professor, Brown University, and Executive Editor, Education Next; and

· Joe Williams - Executive Director, Democrats for Education Reform.

This is the closing installment in NewTalk’s month-long series on education issues. Previous discussions, now archived on NewTalk, addressed the following questions:

• Do we need a new deal for teachers?
• Why is there so much school bureaucracy and what can we do about it?
• How can we restore order and respect in public schools?

Launched in June 2008, NewTalk offers a new kind of conversation: one that acknowledges reality, uncovers common ground, and finds a responsible way forward. It takes advantage of the Internet, letting each discussion unfold over several days with notable participants contributing from across the country. All conversations are archived online with participants’ photos and biographies. NewTalk site visitors can participate, too, offering comments and ideas, as the discussion evolves each week.

Recent NewTalk discussions have included renowned American leaders such as Mayors Michael Bloomberg (New York) and Shirley Franklin (Atlanta); former presidential candidates and U.S. Senators Bill Bradley and Bob Kerrey; American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten; and a host of other high-profile thinkers with a wide range of expertise.

Among the completed discussions now archived on NewTalk:

· “How Can We Restore Americans’ Sense of Optimism?”

· “What Strategies Best Support Displaced Workers?”

· “Obesity: What’s Needed to Encourage a Culture of Fitness?”

· “Should Test Results be the Main Focus of School Reform?”

NewTalk was created and is supported by the non-profit organization Common Good (www.commongood.org) in recognition of the need to improve the quality of public discourse on a broad range of topics. Both NewTalk and Common Good were founded by Philip K. Howard, lawyer and author of the bestseller, “The Death of Common Sense,” and the upcoming book “Life Without Lawyers” (Norton).

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