In Hearings, Poll, PEN Finds Support for Goals of NCLB

State legislators may be chafing under the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, but the public strongly supports the federal law and doesn’t want to see its goals diluted, according to a report scheduled to be released this week.

The report, by the Washington-based Public Education Network, summarizes findings from nine public hearings in eight states—California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas—during the summer and fall of last year, as well as the results of an online survey to which some 12,000 people responded. It is not a nationally representative sample.

“The hearings and the survey made clear that the American public strongly endorses the goals of No Child Left Behind and supports its continuation,” says the report by PEN, a national association representing local education funds. At the same time, it continues, the public has some strong opinions about better ways...