The Aspen Institute

WASHINGTON, DC—The Commission on No Child Left Behind made the following statement in response to the release of “A Blueprint for Reform,” an outline of the Obama Administration’s vision for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

In a joint report released earlier this month, the Commission called for Congress and the Administration to build on the education reform momentum that has energized the country by working together to update and improve ESEA this year.  We are pleased that the Administration followed President Obama’s State of the Union call for ESEA reauthorization with a blueprint that will help advance that critical process. 

Many of the blueprint’s top-line priorities align with those that have been advanced by the Commission, including teacher and principal effectiveness measures primarily focused on student achievement, more aggressive interventions in chronically low-performing schools, and higher expectations for students.  However, important details remain to be worked out in all of these areas, along with additional clarity on a strong accountability framework to drive improved performance.

We look forward to working with Congress and the Administration to complete a strong, bipartisan reauthorization that maintains urgency for taking timely action to improve the academic performance of all kids and that results in closing achievement gaps and putting all children on the path to college and work readiness.

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The Commission on No Child Left Behind (www.nclbcommission.org and on Facebook) is a bipartisan effort to identify and build support for improvements in federal education policy to ensure the nation has effective tools to spur academic achievement and close the achievement gap. The Commission is funded by some of the nation’s leading foundations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Joyce Foundation, and the GE Foundation.  The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in the Commission’s work should not be attributed to the donors.