Duncan calls for faster work on 'No Child' fix - Connecticut Post

Duncan calls for faster work on 'No Child' fix

CHRIS WILLIAMS, Associated Press

Published 03:21 p.m., Tuesday, May 31, 2011

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, right, enjoys a laugh as Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., reads to first graders during a visit to Dayton's Bluff Achievement Plus Elementary School Tuesday, May 31, 2011 in Minneapolis. Duncan also participated in a roundtable discussion with Franken and other educators regarding authorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Photo: Jim Mone / AP

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is in Minnesota calling on Congress to move faster on an overhaul of the nation's most important K-12 law.

The nine-year-old No Child Left Behind law has been widely criticized for branding schools as failures even as they make progress and discouraging high academic standards.

Speaking in St. Paul, Duncan says he "desperately" wants the new bill ready by the time schools resume in the fall, because the current law is an impediment