Former education chief weighs in on No Child Left Behind
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Rod Paige, the former HISD superintendent and U.S. education secretary, attended a ceremony in May 2008 for the new Roderick Paige Elementary School in Houston. (Steve Campbell)
Rod Paige, the former U.S. education secretary who implemented No Child Left Behind, said Tuesday he worries that education standards are being lowered as states continue to get waivers from the federal law.
Paige, in a brief phone interview, said he respected the decision by Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams to seek a waiver from the law. Still, Paige said he was troubled by the waiver process that has let Education Secretary Arne Duncan grant exemptions to 42 states and the District of Columbia.
“It’s kind of a disregard for Congress,” said Paige, who served as superintendent of the Houston Independent School District before he joined then-President George W. Bush in Washington.
Williams announced Monday that Texas was the latest state to get a break from parts of No Child Left Behind. Texas no longer will have to demonstrate by the 2014 deadline that 100 percent of students are proficient in reading and math, based on standardized test scores. Critics have called the 100 percent standard unreasonable,