Duncan Warns Congress: Revise NCLB or I Will
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said if Congress does not reauthorize and amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—popularly known as No Child Left Behind—he will take actions to amend the law himself.
A clause in the law permits the secretary of education to waive certain parts of the act—a power Duncan said he would consider use if states agree to enact reforms.
[Learn about a bill that may improve graduation rates.]
ESEA was up for renewal and an overhaul in 2007, but Congress opted to extend the law on a year-to-year basis. The law, proposed by then-President George W. Bush and passed in 2001, set a goal of making all children "proficient" in reading and math by 2014. In March, Duncan told Congress the law was "broken," and said that up to 82 percent of all public schools could miss targets set by No Child Left Behind.
President Obama has also asked Congress to revise the bill, saying the benchmarks it set
