Chris Dodd: “9 years ago I and many of my colleagues supported the No Child Left Behind Act because every American child deserves an…”

“9 years ago I and many of my colleagues supported the No Child Left Behind Act because every American child deserves an education that opens up opportunities for success and prepares him or her for the 21st century economy. Today, because the high hopes we had for this law have not been realized, I rise to reintroduce the No Child Left Behind Reform Act. The objective of the law we passed nearly a decade ago was the right one. Students, parents, teachers, principals, and other stakeholders all agree that educators and schools should be held accountable for the results they are getting on behalf of our children. But instead of rewarding excellence, No Child Left Behind has turned out to be a law that punishes our schools, further straining those that already were in need of help. At times, the law has been implemented rigidly and with little regard for what is actually going on in schools. The previous administration's repeated failure to live up to funding promises has robbed our efforts to improve our education system of the resources that would make success possible. We can have accountability without a regime of draconian punishments for schools that fall behind. What we cannot have is an inflexible and unfunded mandate that fails school districts, teachers, and, worst of all, the very students whose futures are at stake.”