I am a Principal in Canada, but was trained in the US. Luckily, my teachers and I aren't required to follow the NCLB guidelines, but my thoughts go out to all of you who do. I truly hope President Obama will take a good look at the strangling effect NCLB has had on America's children, and provide more progressive incentives for teachers.

We are all feeling the finicial crisis at school. Pay freezes, increased class sizes and limited funds for supplies. I hope that President Obama will help school districts at least maintain current level of funding so that class sizes will not increase. It always seems that budget fixes always hurt students.

I hope he takes an honest hard look at eliminating tenure. Teachers should be retained on the basis of merit, rather than contractual obligation

If the attempt is make all children equal than we must begin with most basic principle of beliefs that each child is different. Not only in the way they look, dress and communicate but also in thier exerpiences and in the way they learn. NCLB does not look at or even consider these differenes, it instead discourages them and treats differences as a bad thing instead something that should be embraced.

Hello my name is Desree G.

I AM A FRESHLY GRADUATED STUDENT OF TOURO COLLEGE 2007.
I TOOK COURSES WHICH SPOKE ABOUT THE FOLLOWING: AND THEIRS SO MUCH LEARNING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENTAL CLASSES AMAZING.

Expand early-childhood education.

Double the funding for the federal Public Charter Schools Program.

Prioritize math and science education. YES #1. COMPUTER SCIENCE TOO.

Support college-outreach programs.

Reform No Child Left Behind.

AND I FEEL OUR NEW PRESIDENT BARACK H. OBAMA NEEDS TO ADDRESSES ALL OF THE ABOVE.

Science must be taught as an evidence-based process. We must remove ideology that may have been written into Science by the past administration.

I agree with Obama needing to eliminate tenure. Teachers at that stage tend to stagnate and don't put their all into their lessons knowing that they aren't going anywhere. They use the same routine over and over because of it and do not tailor-make their lessons to each incoming class. Replacing tenured teachers with fresher, or teachers with more merit would eliminate this problem somewhat.

He needs to prioritize arts-based and experiential learning! Our children need to learn that answers don't always exist in a multiple-choice format. If we are to progress as a society we need to learn to think outside of the box and CREATE, not REGURGITATE.

This measure needs to be repealed for many reasons.

1. First, the original act, after 7 years was never fully funded, despite the many mandates made on states and local schools.

2. The program suffered from corruption, namely in the Reading First area, where more than $8 Billion was slated for purchase of materials, based on a skewed selection process involving favoritism and cronyism. Committees were packed. Monies were approved for states that had selected specific programs that fit one model of reading. This process has been exposed by the inspector general of the Dept. of Education. But it's too late. The money was already spent.

3. The legislation claims to rely on a medical model for the use of scientific reading research. This is a bogus claim. Educational research does not use a double blind approach to research questions where both patient and doctor do not know which treatment is being used on each individual in a study. In education, students, teachers, and researchers know exactly which method is being used in research they participate. Reliance on one model of research always means that other research is excluded that has at least as much bearing on issues related to reading acquisition.

4. The legislation's intent has folded in on itself as teachers feel compelled to teach to tests rather than based on the understanding of how children learn to read and comprehend. The preliminary report from April 2008 report on Reading First demonstrate that the program's emphasis on petty skills with ample drill have had no improvement on test scores in comprehension.

5. The legislation has created a testing industry with a life of its own. The testmakers keep lobbying states and the U.S. House of Representative to ensure that sweepstakes testing remains central to the measurement of reading. However, the tests try to control for prior knowledge and, by doing so, strip lower achieving students from using background knowledge that has been well activated by their teacher. Further, most reading instruction in elementary schools involve children reading orally. The tests require silent reading. In many cases, the tests don't measure what they purport to measure.

What should Obama spend the money on:
a) coursework for teachers that leads to greater professional understanding of reading.
b) books for classroom libraries and school libraries.
c) fieldtrips for children to gain greater background knowledge.
d) a fully funded HeadStart program
e) art and music education for all children
f) paid professional development for teachers in the summer with coursework for improved science and math and computer science teaching.
g) a national emphasis on nutrition and fitness in the schools.
h) a forward looking school lunch program drawing from locally grown foods and removing fats, sugars, and high fructose corn syrup as ingredients in foods.

I teach grade 7 Life Science to about 15 level 1, 20 level 2, about 33 level 3 language learners plus about 100 GATE/Honors students.
I believe that accountability needs to focus on EFFECT SIZE; i.e. instead of just looking at how many students have attained a score of 350 on their CST tests, look at the DIFFERENCE between student scores at the beginning versus the end of the year.

The idea of merit pay sounds nice, if they pay teachers doctors or lawyers' salaries . . . are we paying doctors and public defenders merit pay??? I don't think so.

It seems very difficult to come up with a fair approach to assessing merit. For example language learner students from Mexico who test far below basic comprise a completely different challenge from advanced GATE students. . . .
Guess which students make their teacher look better on standardized tests? Guess which classes the more tenured teachers will want to teach. ESL classes are already too often taught by new teachers who get stuck teaching those courses because they have less power than the experienced teachers who want to get away from the stress and frustration of working with poor immigrant students/families who so often lack materials, parent support/participation, and academic/parenting skills.

Focus on fulfilling students' needs for homework/tutoring support, keeping class sizes low enough so that teachers can foster caring/supportive relationships with their students, fund technology and laboratory expenditures, and fund after-school athletics/tutoring and school nutrition programs.