Now that the national nominating conventions are over (and my professional life is back to normal), I’m going to be posting here again.
If you’ve read the the work my Ed Week colleagues and I produced out of Denver and St. Paul, you’ll notice that Republicans and Democrats alike are not inclined to utter four words: No Child Left Behind.
When Laura Bush addressed Republican delegates, she said that President Bush led “the most important education reforms in a generation, holding schools accountable and boosting funds for reading instruction.” But she didn’t mention NCLB by name.
Indeed, when I interviewed Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., in Denver, he talked hopefully about reauthorizing the law next year. He believes that its next version will keep accountability and add some form of pay for performance for teachers. But that bill is unlikely to pass under the name the No Child Left Behind Act.
“I’ve always said you get 100 votes if you change the name,” he told me.
With that as a background, I promise to keep this blog going in the next few months. Posting won’t be as frequent because most of my reporting will focus on what the presidential candidates are saying.
But I’m sure there will plenty to report about what the Bush administration is doing in its final months and what the next administration may do in the coming years.
