Face The Nation, 09.06.09

Duncan knocks No Child Left Behind

Education Secretary Arne Duncan knocked President George W. Bush's signature education bill, No Child Left Behind, saying that the bill is "very prescriptive" and discourages innovative teaching and that the state standards it calls for are often watered down and students that meet them are often nonetheless not college-ready.

The law is "desperately underfunded," Duncan said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation," and the $100 billion in stimulus funding has "staved off a catastrophe" of teacher and staff layoffs.

The push for national standards was a grass-roots movement, he said. "We are moving in the right direction ... to educate our way to a better economy."

"We have to raise the bar for everyone," he said. "We have to make sure that every student is college-ready."


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