Patty Murray: “I don't think any of us disagree with the goal of reducing by 10 percent over 5 years the term of performance…”

“I don't think any of us disagree with the goal of reducing by 10 percent over 5 years the term of performance agreements--the difference between the highest and lowest achieving students. But I think to rhetorically say that we can do it through a test is very difficult. I think we all want students to achieve better. Here on the Democratic side, we believe that by providing high-quality teachers and class sizes that are reduced, where a teacher has time to teach math and English, where we are in classrooms and where students can actually learn and they are not there in overcoats because there is no heating, or there are holes in the roof, and that we continue to put Federal resources into programs that have been shown to work those achievement gaps will decrease. I hope our colleagues understand this as we move forward.”