(Host) Teachers are looking to make some changes this year to a federal education law that they say doesn’t help schools.
The No Child Left Behind Act is due for congressional reauthorization this year.
Angelo Dorta says that’s a big topic at this year’s National Education Association convention.
Dorta is president of the Vermont NEA and he’s in Philadelphia for this week’s meetings.
He says the testing requirements of No Child Left Behind undermine the public’s confidence in schools.
Dorta says union leaders promise to be active in this year’s congressional debate.
(Dorta) “What needs to be done in this next re-authorization is to revise the accountability system to take into account more than just standardized tests scores. We need to include measures of student achievement over time, put some commonsense flexibility into it for students with disabilities or who are just learning the English language, and we need to get more flexibility for teachers who are teaching multiple subjects and special education.”
(Host) Teachers are talking about more than just the No Child Left Behind law. Politics is on their minds, too.
They’ll be hearing from several presidential candidates over the next few days. Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards are scheduled to speak and so is Republican Mike Huckabee.