Bush Pushes Expansion of NCLB

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Bush to Congress: Renew NCLB this year
President calls for measures to strengthen math and science, expand options for parents

From eSchool News staff and wire service reports
January 24, 2007

President Bush wants to add elements to the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that will ensure the competitiveness of American students by strengthening math and science education--but he also is making another run at giving poor students private school vouchers, a move a Congress controlled by Democrats appears ready to block.

The White House on Jan. 23 unveiled details of the president's proposals for overhauling NCLB, which is up for renewal this year. Bush also briefly touched on NCLB in his State of the Union address, urging Congress to renew the education law this year.

After a great deal of buildup leading up to the State of the Union that it would focus heavily on domestic issues, only 203 of the speech's 5,510 words dealt with education. Nearly half of Bush's speech--some 2,500 words--focused on the war on terror, seeking to persuade the Democratic Congress to give his controversial strategy for Iraq a chance to work.

On NCLB, Bush said: "Five years ago, we rose above partisan differences to pass the No Child Left Behind Act--preserving local control, raising standards in public schools, and holding those schools accountable for results. And because we acted, students are performing better in reading and math, and minority students are closing the achievement gap."

Bush said the task before Congress now is "to build on this success--without watering down standards, without taking control from local communities, and without backsliding and calling it reform."

"We can lift student achievement even higher by giving local leaders flexibility to turn around failing schools--and by giving families with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose something better," he said. "We must increase funds for students who struggle--and make sure these children get the special help they need. And we can make sure our children are prepared for the jobs of the future, and our country is more competitive, by strengthening math and science skills."

He concluded: "The No Child Left Behind Act has worked for America's children--and I ask Congress to reauthorize this good law."

The administration's proposal calls for giving vouchers--called "promise scholarships" in the president's parlance--to students in schools that persistently fail to meet progress goals set by the federal law.

"This is not for every kid in America. This is for those kids who are trapped in the absolute worst schools that just don't seem to be capable, or willing, to make the changes necessary to serve those students well," White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joel Kaplan said before the president's State of the Union address.

The administration tried to include such a measure in NCLB when it was first signed into law five years ago. Democrats, then in the minority party, blocked the effort.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who became chairman of the Senate committee overseeing education when Democrats took over Congress this year, said he would work to keep vouchers out of the education law.

"We need new and creative ideas for helping our schools to improve and our students to succeed. Instead, the president has proposed more of the same," Kennedy said. "Once again, he proposes siphoning crucial resources from our public schools."

Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat who chairs the House committee overseeing education, called the voucher proposal unacceptable. "It didn't pass muster when Republicans controlled the Congress, and it certainly won't pass muster now that Democrats do," Miller said.

NCLB seeks to ensure that all children can read and do math at grade level by 2014, which has placed unprecedented demands on schools. They have been required to step up testing, raise teacher quality, and place more attention on the achievements of minority children.

Besides promoting vouchers, the administration is calling for other changes to the law. One would require states to publish a report card showcasing how students do on state tests compared with the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a rigorous national test. Such a move could put pressure on states to strengthen their assessments and standards.

The administration also wants to make tutoring more widely available, by ensuring that school districts notify parents of their options under the law. In addition, Bush wants to expand the Teacher Incentive Fund, which supports efforts to reward teachers who raise student achievement and work in needy schools; expand the Striving Readers program, which targets literacy instruction in grades 6-12; and increase funding for Title I in high schools, to ensure that more students graduate on time. According to the Alliance for Excellence in Education, only about 70 percent of students graduate from high school on time--and only about half of minority students receive a high school diploma in four years.

To prepare students for success in the new global economy, Bush wants to incorporate the educational elements of his American Competitiveness Initiative--which he unveiled in last year's State of the Union Address--into the reauthorization of NCLB.

The administration aims to increase the rigor of math and science classes by training more teachers and making Advanced Placement (AP) classes available to more students in these disciplines. Bush also wants to create an Adjunct Teacher Corps of talented professionals who will share their expertise in the classroom, and he wants Congress to enact the recommendations of the National Math Panel he formed last year.

In addition, states are required to add science testing in three grade levels by 2008, and the president wants the renewed education law to specify that all students will achieve proficiency in science by the 2019-20 school year.

The president's proposals in the area of competitiveness are likely to get a much warmer reception on Capitol Hill than his call for vouchers. Shortly before Bush's 2006 State of the Union Address, House Democrats introduced a plan of their own to keep America competitive in the new global economy. The Democrats' plan made improved education its centerpiece and called for incentives for students to pursue careers in science and technology (see story: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=5978).

Besides renewing NCLB, Bush urged lawmakers packed into the House chamber for his State of the Union address to send him legislation helping more Americans afford health insurance, reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil, and overhaul immigration laws.

Links:

White House
http://www.whitehouse.gov

State of the Union 2007
http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/index.html

"Building On Results: A Blueprint For Strengthening NCLB" (Bush's proposals)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/initiatives/education.html

The US Department of Education Starts to Make itsMove

Reauthorization NCLB Briefing Update

On Wednesday, January 24 -- the day after the President's State of the Union address -- the U.S. Department of Education hosted a series of conference calls to brief education leaders and other stakeholders on new policy as it relates to the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Most of the information from this briefing by Acting Assistant Secretary Kerri Briggs is also available on-line at http://ed.gov/news/opeds/factsheets/index.html?src=gu We also had a brief opportunity to ask questions.

I hope you find this of value.

The Bush Administration's View

Fact Sheet: The No Child Left Behind Act: Challenging Students Through High Expectations

President Discusses NCLB Reauthorization at the Education Department
In Focus: Education

The No Child Left Behind Act Is A Historic Law - It Is Working, And It Is Here To Stay. When he came to Washington, President Bush worked with Republicans and Democrats to pass the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and he was proud to sign it into law. Today, President Bush discussed the progress made under NCLB and areas where we can look to improve.

• The Theory Behind No Child Left Behind Is Straightforward: The Federal Government Will Ask For Demonstrated Results On The Investment It Makes In Education. Local schools will remain under local control, but instead of just sending checks from Washington and hoping for the best, we are measuring results and holding schools accountable for teaching every student to read, write, add, and subtract.
  
  
• The No Child Left Behind Act Is Changing More Than The Law - It Is Changing A Culture. We are leaving behind the days when schools shuffled children from grade to grade, especially minorities and children who do not speak English at home. We are making it clear that every child can learn, and every school must teach. There can be no compromise on the basic principles of NCLB: Every student must read, write, add, and subtract at grade level - that is not too much to ask.
  
  
• We Have Come Too Far To Turn Back Now - Reauthorizing No Child Left Behind Is Critical. If we were to lower standards and roll back accountability now, we would be abandoning children to the status quo that failed for decades, and the children hurt most would be the ones NCLB was designed to help - children in the inner cities, in rural America, and in special education.

The No Child Left Behind Act Is Working. The most recent national tests show encouraging results:

• In reading, 9-year-olds have made larger gains in the past five years than at any point in the previous 28 years;
• In math, 9-year-olds and 13-year-olds earned the highest scores in the history of the test; and
• In both reading and math, African American and Hispanic students are scoring higher, and are beginning to close the achievement gap with their white peers.

The No Child Left Behind Act Has Brought Good Progress - Yet We Still Have Much Work To Do

1. We Must Improve Teacher Quality. Bringing every student up to grade level requires a quality teacher in every classroom. President Bush worked with Congress to create a Teacher Incentive Fund that allows States and school districts to reward teachers who demonstrate results for their students and who make the tough decision to teach in the neediest schools.

• President Bush Has Also Proposed A New Program To Encourage Math And Science Professionals To Bring Their Expertise Into The Classroom As Part-Time Teachers. The President calls on Congress to fund this program.

2. We Must Improve Options For Parents. We must do more to help parents use their options when their children are trapped in struggling schools. We will work with school districts to provide parents with more timely and useful information about their transfer options and, especially in big cities, to help more students take advantage of the free intensive tutoring offered under NCLB.

• President Bush Proposed A Nationwide Opportunity Scholarships Program To Help More Students Escape Troubled Schools. His proposal would allow 28,000 low-income children to transfer to a private or religious school of their choice. The President calls on Congress to create this program, so we can help more children attend a good school and turn around their lives.
  
  
• This School Year, About 1,800 Low-Income Students Have Used Scholarships From The D.C. Opportunity Scholarships Program To Enroll At A School Of Their Choice. Congress created this program in 2004 with strong support from the Administration and Mayor Anthony Williams of Washington, D.C.

3. We Must Improve Our High Schools. We need to bring the same high standards and accountability of NCLB to America's public high schools. The President calls on Congress to pass his proposed $1.5 billion initiative to fund testing early in high school and to help teachers fix problems before it is too late, and his proposed program to train 70,000 teachers over five years to lead Advanced Placement classes in high school.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061005-2.html

The Education Trust is one of the Organizations Leading the Charge for Reauthorization of NCLB

November 18, 2003

Contact: Jeanne Brennan, 202-293-1217 ext 328, Kimberly Holmes ext 292, or Nicolle Grayson, ext 351

Don’t Turn Back the Clock!”

Over 100 African American and Latino Superintendents Voice Their Support for the Accountability Provisions in Title I (NCLB)

Superintendents are joined by over 135 other educators, superintendents and civic leaders from across the country urging Congress to stay the course on accountability

(Washington, D.C.) -- More than 100 African American and Latino school district superintendents from across the country today sent a letter to Congress, the White House and to all of the Democratic Presidential candidates stating loudly and clearly, ‘Don’t turn back the clock on the accountability provisions in Title I.’ These education leaders, who together oversee the education of more than 3 million students, were joined by over 135 other superintendents, principals, teachers and community leaders from across the country in letting policymakers know that rolling back the accountability provisions in the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act is simply not an option.

The superintendents, many from districts struggling with the toughest challenges, all recognize that rigorous accountability is good for public education. They know that, while challenging, the new expectations in Title I are especially good news for the disadvantaged students, including students of color and students living in poverty, whose underachievement has been swept underneath overall averages for too long. After watching mounting political attacks on accountability, these educators felt compelled to explain how the accountability provisions are helping them to bring about long-overdue conversations about how we can do things differently to better public education.

These educators know first-hand about the challenges facing public education, but they also know that accountability gives them leverage for moving their systems to action. “Closing achievement gaps is never going to be easy. But it would be next to impossible without the demands and expectations in the federal law,” remarked Paul Ruiz, Principal Partner of The Education Trust, also a former principal and former Chief Academic Officer in an urban school system. “These folks don’t have the luxury of thinking they can implement all the changes they need to without the cover of the law. We can’t pull the rug out from under them just as they are beginning to get some real traction,” Ruiz continued.

“There is a battle raging for the soul of American education,” noted Kati Haycock, Director of The Education Trust. “In our work around the country, we often hear local educators talk about the progress they are seeing as a result of the new accountability. These education leaders are especially concerned with the messages communicated by those opposed to accountability. Too often, the critics imply that students from low-income families and students of color simply cannot be expected to be taught to high levels. We kept hearing from educators whose experiences have taught them otherwise that these insidious messages could not go unchallenged, so we promised to find a way to help them share their voices with the nation,” stated Haycock.

“Those who would roll back the accountability provisions in Title I do not speak for the courageous educators with whom we work every day,” said Stephanie Robinson, Principal Partner with The Education Trust and former deputy superintendent of Kansas City, Missouri’s public schools. “The politicians and talking heads of the education establishment in Washington need to understand that this law is actually helping to get public education more focused on raising achievement for all students and on closing achievement gaps between groups. These superintendents thought Washington needed to hear from educators in the field who are using the accountability provisions to advance the mission of public education.”

The message of these courageous educators to Congress, the White House and the Democratic Presidential candidates is clear: “We recognize that the goal of educating all students presents a tremendous challenge. We believe that American public education is up to the task. We add our voices to those who have stepped up to the challenge.”

As the education leaders charged with implementing the law’s rigorous demands, these superintendents are saying with conviction and authority: “Don’t turn back the clock.”

http://www2.edtrust.org/NR/exeres/F3232B52-86C1-4792-94A5-13270E4B7D29,frameless.htm?NRMODE=Published

Another Way to Look at It- Shared by Scott C

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND---The Football Version

1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If after two years they have not won the championship their footballs and equipment will be taken away UNTIL they do win the championship.



2. All players will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time even if they do not have the same conditions or opportunities to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities of themselves or their parents. ALL PLAYERS WILL PLAY FOOTBALLAT A PROFICIENT LEVEL!



3. Talented players will be asked to workout on their own, without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the athletes who aren't interested in football, have limited athletic ability or whose parents don't like football.



4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th game. It will create a New Age of Sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimum goals. If no team gets ahead, then no team gets left behind. If fans do not like this new law, they are encouraged to vote for vouchers and support private teams that can screen out the non-athletes and prevent their players from having to play with bad football players.

Bush Administration Pushing Foward

Bush to seek renewal of education law

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, AP Education Writer Thu Jan 4, 7:27 AM ET

WASHINGTON -
President Bush plans to meet with lawmakers next week to boost efforts to renew the No Child Left Behind education law, according to a Democratic congressional aide.

The top Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate committees that deal with education issues planned to attend the White House meeting Monday, the aide said on the condition of anonymity because the White House had not announced the session.

Monday is also the day the Bush administration is commemorating the fifth anniversary of what is widely considered the most significant federal education law in decades.

Education Secretary
Margaret Spellings, in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, said she was optimistic the law would be renewed for five more years. She said it is a natural issue on which Bush and Democrats, who won control of Congress in November, can come together.

"It's on everybody's list of things where we might forge agreement as we have done before," she said.

The law seeks to ensure that all children can read and do math at grade level by 2014, which has placed unprecedented demands on schools. They have been required to step up testing, raise teacher quality and place more attention on the achievements of minority children.

Poor schools that get federal aid but do not make enough progress must provide tutoring, offer public school choice to students or initiate other reforms such as overhauling their staffs.

Spellings said there were a few "bright-line principles" that the administration would not agree to alter under a rewrite of the law. Among them is the requirement that all students are proficient in reading and math by 2014 — a goal many observers call unrealistic.

Spellings said the administration was open to debating how student achievement should be measured. Critics, including the teachers' unions, have said the current law does not give enough credit to schools that make significant strides in student achievement but fall short of reaching an annual target.

"There is too much punishing going on," said Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the country. Weaver also called the law "grossly underfunded."

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., and Rep. George Miller (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., who are to lead the committees overseeing education, say the administration has provided about $50 billion less than originally called for by Congress.

Republicans say it is common practice for legislation to be funded at less than the full level Congress authorizes.

Spellings declined to preview the amount Bush would seek when he releases his annual budget in February. She did indicate an interest in getting more money to teachers who work in schools that have difficulty attracting people.

Bush sought $500 million from Congress for that purpose last year and got about $100 million.

"Our best teachers, or are most experienced teachers, are in places with our least challenged learners," Spellings said.

Spellings also reaffirmed the administration's view that the law, which focuses on early and middle grades, should be expanded in high schools.

Mary's Email

I wanted to share this article that was shared with me. Has some interesting, and in my opinion, some good suggestions.

Mary

Dr. Mary Greenlaw

Chair, Teacher Education

St. Norbert College

SNC Teacher Education -

"Actively engaged in becoming a teacher at the intersection of theory and practice."

Begin forwarded message:

Subject: NCLB: Kinder, Gentler and Truly Effective Law?

NCLB: Kinder, Gentler and Truly Effective Law?

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From NoChildLeft.Com, Volume IV, Number 10, November 2006. See http://nochildleft.com/2006/nov06kinder.html
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The Next Law - A Kinder, Gentler and Truly Effective Law?
By Jamie McKenzie [For info about Mr. McKenzie, see http://nochildleft.com/about.html ]

Across the United States a chorus of voices is calling for a major overhaul to NCLB/Helter-Skelter. Newspapers, members of Congress and organizations like the National Council of Teachers of English are pressing for major changes. The initial claims of NCLB proponents have proven unreliable and far-fetched while the actual impact of the law's stern measures has been damaging rather than inspiring.

After six years of heavy-handed but ineffective change strategies imposed on schools and states by an overly zealous right wing Ed Department, the recent shift of Congress offers hope for a new educational reform law that will emphasize support, encouragement, capacity building and skilled leadership rather than blame, fear, shame, punishment and narrowly defined educational goals.

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SIDEBAR: More Resignations? We should ask for more resignations following the sudden departure of Donald Rumsfeld this (last) month after failing to win in Iraq or convince American voters. Leaders in the Ed Department with a record of failure should follow his example. The Director of Reading First resigned in September as scandal was detailed by an Inspector General's report. Secretary Spellings should leave next. Despite her lack of school experience and credentials, she has been quick to impose radical and damaging ideas on schools like cheap annual testing. Her team has allowed states to exclude some two million minority students from consideration while she has mouthed nonsense about bigotry and has feigned commitment to the disadvantaged.
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In a November editorial (11/17/2006), the Denver Post called for major revisions to NCLB:
Legislators should free the nation's public schools from the unfunded mandates, unnecessary entanglements and impossible edicts of the law. http://test.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_4680592
This administration has brought the same bungling leadership to educational reform it applied to Iraq and Katrina reconstruction. The new and improved NCLB will set the stage for a much healthier approach to supporting school change.
Below are Traits of the Old NCLB followed by Traits of the Next Ed Law:

1. Shame: The old NCLB employed public humiliation as a prime motivator for change, failing increasing numbers of schools each year in a very public manner.
1. Praise: The new ed law will emphasize the positive. Schools that make good progress will be held up as shining examples.
2. Fear: The old NCLB employed fear as a prime motivator for change, using the possibility of job loss and school closures to develop a climate of fear.
2. Calm: Teachers work best when they feel secure and protected against turbulence and disruption.
3. Threat: The law and its disciples carried a big stick, warning that failing schools would lose their students to charter schools and private market alternatives.
3. Support: Teachers can help students make the most progress when the focus is on capacity building and good resources.
4. Punishment: Emphasizing annual testing, the law's proponents sought to hold individual teachers' feet to the fire.
4. Reward: Incentives will be stressed for programs and schools with good results.
5. Regimentation: Proponents employed a distorted view of research to impose standardized approaches to learning that destroyed decades of previous practice and steered schools down narrow pathways.
5. Innovation: The new law will encourage the development and use of a wide range of strategies and programs instead of imposing arbitrary limits or pseudo science.
6. Intimidation: Criticism, doubt and questioning were met with harsh responses - allegations of bigotry and moral lapses. You are with us or against us!
6. Partnership: The new law will permit and encourage wide ranging critiques as well as disagreement and dissent.
7. Narrow Curriculum Focus: The testing of just two subject areas (reading and math) led to the elimination of many subjects like science, art and social studies in some schools as students were force fed triple doses of those things being tested.
7. Rich Curriculum Focus: The new law will bring back the idea of reaching the whole child and a rich curriculum with multiple literacies. Program assessment will hold schools accountable across all subject areas, not just reading and math.
8. Inadequate Resources: The old law placed new demands on schools that proved more expensive than the extra funds approved by Congress. While federal spending for schools increased, it did not meet the demands of NCLB and actually weakened important programs.
8. Adequate Resources: The new law will identify promising strands of practice and provide the funding so that all schools can afford to create thriving programs.
9. Inconsistent Rules: The Department of Ed allowed states to set ridiculous standards for group size so that some states were allowed to ignore thousands of minorities. Tough talk was backed with flabby enforcement.
9. Consistent Administration: Under the new law, certain standards like group size will actually be firm guidelines that prevent states, schools and districts from gaming the system or ignoring groups of children.
10. Incompetent Management: The arrogant tone and tough talk of bureaucrats masked fundamental incompetence and lack of credible track records. The Director of Reading First had failed with children in Baltimore. Both Secretaries of Ed failed with children in Texas.
10. Competent Management: Under the new law, the Ed Department and its employees will be held accountable for ethical and efficient conduct with penalties both criminal and civil applied when employees throw business to cronies, past employers and favorites. The Department will be monitored for compliance with requirements of the law like those it ignored the first time.
11. Favoritism & Cronyism: NCLB became a money machine for consultants and educational programs endorsed and pushed by the Ed Department despite a section of the law that prohibited such steering. The program was ripe with conflict of interest and greed.
11. Code of Ethics: The new law will include a strongly worded and strongly enforced code of ethics outlawing the kind of favoritism and blatant conflicts that arose in the administration of the first law.
12. Ideology over Pragmatism: Beliefs about free market competition and reading instruction, most unproven, became virtual truths exempt from challenge, criticism or any need for justification.
12. Pragmatics: The new law will encourage the development of practical program initiatives that produce results and will avoid measures that impose particular belief systems and practices on practitioners in the field.
13. Overemphasis of Testing: Eager to demonstrate the impact of their accountability theories, proponents made annual testing a centerpiece of their change strategy, an approach that was lacking in any research support as states that had experimented with it had little to show in the way of results.
13. Balanced Assessments: The new law will continue to hold states and schools accountable to show progress for all students but will require a more broadly defined approach to assessment that includes a broad range of subjects and a mixture of techniques beyond simple annual standardized tests.
14. Damage to Morale: The impact of NCLB on teacher spirit and morale has been devastating, but the whole issue of morale has been put on a back burner as if it had nothing to do with student performance.
14. Teacher Morale: The new law will make teacher morale a priority, recognizing that a positive spirit is a fundamental ingredient required to achieve gains in student learning. Schools and states will collect data on teacher morale and develop plans to improve morale.

15. Damage to Recruitment and Retention of Quality Teachers: As NCLB has ruined the working conditions of teachers, many of the best have left early, turning to other jobs, and talented potential new teachers have changed their minds without even trying the classroom.
15. Quality Teachers: The new law will focus on improving the working conditions of teachers and the recruitment of talented new teachers to the field, identifying and eliminating as much as possible those negative factors most likely to discourage prospective teachers from entering the profession. The new law will provide financial incentives to help attract teachers to less attractive teaching jobs.

16. Blindness to Social Causes: Although we have plenty of research showing that poor school performance is strongly influenced by factors outside the school like poverty and difficult living conditions, the old law paid attention only to the school factors.
16. A New War on Poverty: The new law will combine with a series of initiatives like Head Start and a decent working wage to address the social causes underlying much school failure. Congress will devote far more attention to the conditions of life for the nation's least advantaged families.
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SIDEBAR: A List of ESEA (NCLB) Amendments

1. Fund social programs that impact school readiness so that all children actually enter school ready to learn as the first President Bush promised long ago.

2. Fund capacity building (enhanced teaching and learning) in districts and districts for several years before engaging in punishing labels and reckless choice provisions. Capacity building might mean providing hundreds of hours of training in effective reading strategies, for example. But it does not mean training everybody in a single highly scripted program endorsed by the administration for pseudo-scientific reasons.

3. Devote public money to truly public schools. Be careful not to divert funds to reckless experiments or diploma mills.

4. Fund enough construction of new schools within public systems so parental choice is real.

5. Support informed school choice within public systems.

6. Emphasize rewards and incentives rather than sanctions.

7. Hold all publicly funded schools to standards for performance and quality, whether actually private, charter or truly public. Be careful about simplistic notions of high stakes testing.

8. Fund recruitment and preparation of effective teachers and aides from all racial and economic groups to close the gap between current staffing levels and what is desirable.

9. End the insulting, broad brush assaults on teachers and administrators struggling against difficult challenges.
10. Capitalize on the good research conducted to discover what works best in schools and avoid simplistic panaceas and platitudes imported from the world of business and medicine.

11. Enrich the options available to all children. Forswear tightly scripted, robotic programs and the fast food approaches to school improvement.
12. Build school improvement on a richly defined foundation of alternatives and strategies.

13. Eliminate Trojan horses, hidden agendas and shameful politics from ESEA.

14. Stop using Madison Avenue techniques to hide the harsh realities of so-called compassionate conservatism.
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