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January 29, 2007
Sen. Kennedy addresses school board membersToday in Washington, D.C., more than 1,000 school board members from across the nation listened as Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee outlined his agenda for the 110th Congress at NSBA's Federal Relations Network Conference. Kennedy called upon the school board members to share their "leadership and service to help strengthen America's future," and told NSBA's president that he would work together to fix NCLB.
Kennedy told the audience that
one of the most important aspects of the strength of our democracy is the excellence of our public schools. As leaders and advocates of that excellence, each of you is at the forefront of the ongoing movement to improve our public schools. In Massachusetts, that movement began in 1837, when the father of public education -- Horace Mann -- campaigned relentlessly for the support and improvement of public schools.He reminds us that a free and public education was vital to our future. He brought intense public attention to inferior conditions in our schools. He fought to double the wages of teachers, improve textbooks, and build fifty new secondary schools across the state. And I'm told that he did it without measuring adequate yearly process.
He also outlined four key messages for his agenda:
Do more to see that resources are available to bring needed reforms to schools;Find more effective ways to measure progress, see that all students are reaching high standards, and focus on the lowest perfrorming schools instead of labeling so many schools as failures;
Look for creative ideas to meet our common goal to turn around struggling schools, including extended school days, parent and community initiatives, and high school reform; and
Renew the commitment to teacher quality and help the neediest schools to attract and keep good teachers.
You can view a complete copy of Senator Kennedy's remarks by clicking here.
Posted January 29, 2007 4:33 PM | Advocacy & Legislation
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