Bush Calls for Resolve on NCLB Renewal

At a Philadelphia school, the president seeks to cement the federal education law as part of his domestic-policy legacy.

Philadelphia

In a speech aimed at bolstering his legacy on education as he prepares to leave office, President George W. Bush today touted the success of the No Child Left Behind Act in raising student achievement and called on Congress to renew the law, without weakening its core principles of accountability and testing.

“As president of the United States, this is the last policy address I will give,” Mr. Bush said Thursday morning at General Philip Kearny Elementary School, a K-8 school in the Philadelphia district, on the seventh anniversary of his signing of the federal education law. “What makes it interesting is that it’s the same subject of my first policy address as president of the United States, which is education and education reform. I hope you can tell that education is dear to my heart. I care a lot about whether or not our children can learn to read, write, and add and subtract.”

The president acknowledged that critics have charged that the NCLB law focuses too heavily on standardized tests and sets unrealistic goals, but he called on lawmakers to reject those claims and continue to hold schools...