Unions, Duncan Prod Congress to Replace ‘No Child’ Legislation

A four-year-old entering pre-kindergarten when the Federal government last overhauled its education policies could start college this fall as a freshman, fueling the argument that the country’s schools have similarly outgrown the No Child Left Behind Act, lodged by a coalition of national education advocates and the U.S. Secretary of Education last week in pressuring Congress to reach a consensus between two bills.

Earlier this month, both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed legislation to reauthorize the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Since then, 10 education groups—including the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the School Superintendents Association and other groups representing business officials and Principals—continued their push for a rewrite of NCLB, signed into law in 2002 by then-President George W. Bush.