RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

July 2, 2007

Dodd: "Connect the dots" on NCLB

Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd told delegates NCLB needs to be fixed right now — "it can't wait for 2009." He focused especially on judging school success by multiple measures instead of single test scores, and changing some of the irrational "highly-qualified teacher" rules, both of which are in the No Child Left Behind Reform Act, which he has filed in cooperation with NEA.

Watch a video clip of Dodd's speech.
NEA Members may also view an archived version of Dodd's full speech (requires log-in).

"Learning is not filling in the bubbles. It is about connecting the dots," he said.

As an example of the problem with highly-qualified teacher rules, Dodd said that in some small schools, where a middle school teacher may need to teach several subjects, that teacher is supposed to have degrees in all of them. "That makes no sense at all!" Dodd said.

He also said schools that are in trouble need help, not punishment. And as president, he pledged he would "fully, fully fund No Child Left Behind."

Dodd said his sister recently retired after 41 years teaching in Hartford, Connecticut, and three of his aunts were teachers, too, so "I get lobbied extensively."

He pointed out his 100 percent NEA voting record.

Dodd said last week's Supreme Court decision on desegregation was "shameful." A diverse student body benefits all students, he said, and as president, he pledged to do whatever is necessary to reverse it.

Dodd said he's "vehemently" opposed to vouchers because "we cannot subsidize and support two school systems in our country."

Fifty million of America's 55 million school-age children attend public schools, he noted—including his own five-year-old daughter, who is a student in Washington, D.C.

He promised to make preschool available to all four-year-olds, and noted his long record of support for Head Start and affordable childcare.

Finally, Dodd said that this year, 200,000 students finished high school and qualified for higher education—but could not go because of the cost. That should never happen, he said, "not in my America."