NCLB REAUTHORIZATION PUT ON HOLD IN SENATE UNTIL NEXT YEAR

The Senate education committee will not take up reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act until early next year, the Associated Press reported on Nov. 2. Committee chairman Sen.Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and ranking minority member Sen. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) said that more time was needed to prepare a Senate bill. The news agency reported that the House also might delay consideration of a bill; so far, the House Education and Labor Committee has released a draft discussion of reauthorization but no bill has been introduced.

NCLB call-in this week! Call now

JOIN THE NCLB CONGRESSIONAL CALL-IN, OCT. 15-19

AFT leaders and activists are invited to participate in a congressional call-in week, Oct. 15-19, on the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). After living under NCLB for the past five and a half years, we all know that substantial changes must be made to this law. NCLB can be fixed only if your representative and senators hear directly from you.

Please call 866/327-8670 during that week to be connected to your members of Congress. Share your experiences of how NCLB is not working and urge your representative and senators to take the time to get this law right. The process should be driven by the product, not the clock. Urge your members of Congress to fix adequate yearly progress (AYP) so that it truly reflects how schools are performing; to oppose measures that will lead to more teaching to the test; and to oppose "pay to the test" provisions that mandate the use of test scores to evaluate teachers for determining salary or incentives. When you call, an operator will ask you to identify your representative and senators.

To find the names of your members of Congress, visit http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/PpzZZL61Rqit/members. For more information on the AFT's campaign to fix NCLB, go to http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/P7zZZL61Rqi5/fixnclb.