Political Quotes

“I had the opportunity to serve on our State Board of Education in Colorado from 2001 to 2007, so this was during the implementation phase of No Child Left Behind. Now, we knew at the time many of the flaws we are hoping to address through ESEA reauthorization today, but it took several years just to get up to the point where we had the tests, we had the standards, and we complied with it. Education is a major public enterprise. In fact, it is the largest public enterprise at the State and local level. One of the frustrations that I have heard a lot of in the last few years--and it has really amplified the frustration about testing--is the fact that the ball has been moving, the testing has been changed. My State of Colorado, which is fairly typical, moved from one test, the CSAP, to a temporary test, the TCAP, and then finally a third test, all in a period of 4 years. What we need to do--and this is something that we will hear from education stakeholders as varied as teachers, school boards, and principals--is stop moving the ball. We know it is not going to be perfect. Let's give it a little bit of time to work. Now, this bill is far from perfect, which is why I oppose the underlying bill; but whatever set of rules you set in place, I feel it is important to allow the rulemaking, the State laws, to catch up, which takes a period of time, a period of years.…”