Bush touts NCLB at thriving Chicago school

President Bush touted Chicago's Horace Greeley Elementary on Monday as a school that has thrived under his No Child Left Behind program, despite increasing criticism of the act he sees as one of the signature domestic achievements of his presidency.

Greeley, where 70 percent of students are Hispanic and 92 percent are low-income, was named a Blue Ribbon School under the program in October, one of just 12 public schools in the state to get the distinction and the only one in the Chicago Public Schools system, the nation's third-largest. Eight public schools in the suburbs received the honor.

"There are things we can do, and must do, by working together," Bush said during his appearance at Greeley, chosen as the backdrop for the president's commemoration of the sixth anniversary of the law's signing.

"I believe the country needs to build upon the successes" of the law, Bush said. "It's not worthwhile to guess when a child's future is at stake."

When NCLB was signed into law six years ago Tuesday, it was hailed as a sweeping bipartisan overhaul of federal education funding by requiring schools to meet certain benchmarks, or adequate yearly progress. But now many education reform advocates and educators say the program has failed to live up to its promise, and even lawmakers who once supported it -- including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- say it needs to be replaced.

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Clinton and other Democratic presidential candidates have been batting at NCLB on the campaign trail, criticizing its reliance on standardized test scores. Sen. Barack Obama has said it should be changed "so that we're not just teaching to a test and crowding out programs like art and music."

But Greeley has been making the grade under the program since 2005. It's seen 83 percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards, compared to an average of 64 percent for the entire Chicago Public Schools system.

"In fact, Chicago is an example of NCLB's lack of effectiveness," counters Dr. Monty Neill, an NCLB critic and executive director of the National Center for Fair Open Testing. "The law has failed to raise academic achievement significantly in that city, in other major urban areas or in the nation as a whole."

During his visit Monday, Bush warned Congress that if they don't reauthorize NCLB, he will act administratively and unilaterally to make as many changes as he can. He also said if Congress approves a reauthorization, but he considers it to weaken the original law, he would "strongly oppose it and veto it."

Senate Education Committee leaders have said they would put off rewriting the six-year-old law until next year. If the law isn't revised by Congress, the existing law stands.

The law requires math and reading tests in grades three through eight, and once in high school. Schools that miss testing benchmarks face increasingly stiff sanctions.

There is broad agreement that it should be changed to encourage schools to measure individual student progress over time instead of using snapshot comparisons of certain grade levels. There also is consensus the law should be changed so that schools missing progress goals by a little don't face the same consequences as schools missing them by a lot.

But deep divisions remain over some proposed changes, including merit pay for teachers and whether schools should be judged based on test scores in subjects other than reading and math.

Greeley principal Carlos Azcoitia said part of what sets his school apart is its commitment to bilingual education for all students, including native English speakers. Just more than 30 percent of the students are so-called English language learners -- meaning they primarily speak a language other than English at home.

For most students at Greeley, that language is Spanish, with a smattering of Polish and Russian. All native English-speaking students take Spanish classes, while students who speak a language other than English at home take a language arts class in their native tongue, Azcoitia said.

Greeley qualified for the Blue Ribbon program because its student population has made significant gains over time, Azcoitia said.

"Blue Ribbon schools are noted for not using the fact that they (have) a high disadvantaged population as an excuse but continue to make progress regardless of what adversities they might face," Azcoitia said. "Horace Greeley ... is doing well by the students, and our students are performing at a high rate."