Roy E. Barnes, Co-Chairman

Contact: Jennifer W. Adams
Phone: 202/285-4268-C

Commission Releases Final Report for
NCLB Reauthorization
Recommendations to Serve as Blueprint for Change

WASHINGTON, DC —Today the Commission on No Child Left Behind released its final recommendations for the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).  The 75 recommendations in the report focus on making sure teachers and principals are effective, improving accountability measures, effective school improvement and student options, rigorous standards, and strengthening high schools.  “We hope this report will serve as a blueprint for Congress and the Administration as they work to reauthorize NCLB this year,” said Secretary Tommy Thompson.  “The commission worked tirelessly and in a bi-partisan manner to come up with a comprehensive package of reforms that we believe will significantly improve the law.”

“It is our hope that the administration and Congress will build on what we have learned about NCLB in its first five years,” said Governor Roy Barnes.  “We believe our recommendations will help improve academic achievement for our Nation’s students and, most importantly, quicken the closing of the achievement gap.”

When it was first passed in 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act was one of the most significant steps taken by the Federal government to focus on raising student achievement for all children while addressing the achievement gaps that separate disadvantaged students from their non disadvantaged peers.  The Commission’s charge was to identify the successes of NCLB as well as its challenges and problems and to develop solutions that will improve the law’s impact on raising student achievement and closing these achievement gaps.  These recommendations were produced through a bipartisan independent process that included 12 public hearings and roundtables around the country and over 10,000 emails, submissions of written testimony, meetings and letters from those with thoughts on how to improve the law.

Most of the Commission’s recommendations can be grouped into 5 broad categories:

• Ensuring Teachers and Principals are Effective at Improving Student Achievement
• Accelerating Progress through Accurate and Fair Accountability Measures
• Effective School Improvement and Quality Student Options
• Rigorous Standards Tied to College and Workplace Readiness
• Strengthening and Reforming High Schools

It is expected that Congress will begin work to reauthorize NCLB this year.  The Commission will work with Congress, the Administration, the education community and the general public throughout the reauthorization process to make the case for our recommendations.  In the coming weeks, the Commission will be announcing a schedule of events and continuing analysis and research that will be conducted to support the reauthorization process.

The entire Commission report can be read, ordered and downloaded at www.nclbcommission.org.

The Commission on No Child Left Behind is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Spencer Foundation. This document is published to communicate the results of the Commission’s work. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in the Commission’s documents are entirely those of the author(s) and should not be attributed in any manner to the donors.     

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