Whats good about NCLB?
What’s not? PK: The law is good in that it forces teachers and principals to pay attention to the whole subgroup of Limited English Proficient (LEP) kids. I’m not saying that it happened, but in the past it was possible to let these students sit at the back of the class with crayons just so long as they weren’t bothering anyone. Now, the success of LEP kids is just as important as the success of everyone else. Also, NCLB recognized the importance of staff development for teachers. A certain percentage of money now has to be used for staff development. You can’t create change in an organization without some training. • LS: What details of the law seem to be most challenging or problematic? PK: Congress passed its big picture for the law, but how the law was to be implemented depended on federal and state regulations. Initially, there was a lag between the time the law first passed and the time when the regulations were written by the Department of Education (DOE). This, of course, meant
