Bush: Expand 'No Child' Act
In another pitch for a key element of his second-term agenda, President Bush said Wednesday that he wants to expand the No Child Left Behind program to public high schools – including reading and math tests in the 9th, 10th and 11th grades, CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller reports.
"Testing is important," Mr. Bush said at J.E.B Stuart High School in the Washington suburb of Falls Church, Va. "Testing at high school levels will help us become more competitive as the years go by. Testing in high schools will make sure that our children are employable for the jobs of the 21st century. ... Testing will make sure the diploma is not merely a sign of endurance, but the mark of a young person ready to succeed."
Mr. Bush said his new budget will propose $1.5 billion for a program to hold high schools accountable for teaching all students. It's part of his campaign pledge to improve high school standards and enhance the value of high school diplomas.
"We're not interested in mediocrity," the president said at the school, which was the lowest performing among those in relatively prosperous Fairfax County in 1997, but met its academic goals last year under the No Child Left Behind Act. "We're interested in excellence so not one single child is left behind in our country," he said.
Mr. Bush wants to require states to test students annually in reading and math in grades three through 11. That's an expansion of the law he signed in 2002, which requires those tests in grades three through eight, and at least once during grades 10 to 12.
The president also wants to require that the 12th grade National Assessment of Educational Progress be administered in every state in reading and math every two years, just as it is in those subjects in grades four and eight. That would produce the first-ever state results for high school seniors on this national test, helping policy-makers evaluate their school standards.
Rep. George Miller of California, ranking Democrat on the House Education Committee, has said the idea of adding testing "is going to have rough sledding, not just on Capitol Hill but I think in communities all across the country." Miller says schools are struggling to keep up with the financial burden of their existing federal requirements, let alone new ones.
Like Miller, many Democrats, who supported No Child Left Behind when Mr. Bush signed it into law three years ago, now criticize the administration for what they call lackluster spending and enforcement. Critics, including teachers' unions, argue that the funding increases have not been enough to cover the costs of the new requirements, including the expense of creating tests and processing results.
Federal spending on programs covered under No Child Left Behind has increased 40 percent since Mr. Bush took office, from $17.38 billion to $24.35 billion. But spending went up only 1.7 percent this year, about the same rate of increase the entire Education Department received.
Focusing on high school is a good idea, Steve Nousen, a federal lobbyist for the National Education Association, a teachers' union, said Tuesday. But he said expanding No Child Left Behind would take even more money.
"If you look at the graduation rates nationwide, there is great room for improvement," Nousen said. "We have to do something to prepare these kids for college or to be lifelong learners in the world of work. The funding in the pre-kindergarten through eighth grade is not adequate. If we try to extend it (NCLB) into the high schools, obviously it's going to take more money."
Among other proposals the president has announced for high schools: