nclb at Brave New Films

Barack on Education

2008-10-22T14:52:52Z

Barack Obama, his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, and Dr. Jill Biden discuss the educational issues affecting Americans and the Obama-Biden ticket's plans for change. Visit www.BarackObama.com for more information.

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John McCain: NAACP Speech 07/16/08

2008-10-28T09:31:23Z

John McCain
NAACP Speech
Cincinnati, OH 07/16/08

TRANSCRIPTION
QUESTIONER: [...] I'd like to know, do you promise to provide full federal funding to public schools so that we can satisfy the mandates that have been created by the No Child Left Behind?

JOHN MCCAIN: I will. I will fully fund those programs, but No Child Left Behind has to be fixed. Okay? It was a good beginning. It should not be scrapped, in my view.

I think it was a good beginning. Senator Kennedy and President Bush sat down together. Now we need to fix it.

There's one other thing that I want to tell you about and I mentioned earlier in my remarks, I'd like to have every parent in America to have the same ability that Cindy and I had and that was to send our child to the school of their choice I think that every parent should have that ability to do so. I think that just because of income level should not dictate whether we have that choice or not [sic].

I believe a thousand flowers should bloom. We should try these. Some of 'em work and some don't work, but I think there's one thing everybody in this room and I are in agreement on that is the status quo is not acceptable in America today and we have to fix it.

One other very small item—not so small. There's a terrible rise in autism today. We need to address that issue as well

LABEL: JM OH 7-16 (JR#61) FT - Clip I

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John McCain: Town Hall Meeting 07/09/08

2008-10-27T21:29:47Z

John McCain
Town Hall Meeting
Portsmouth, OH 07/09/08

TRANSCRIPT:
QUESTIONER: "I've been a teacher for about 31 years. What is your feeling about No Child Left Behind?"

JOHN MCCAIN: "Thank you. By the way, did I mention that Cindy was a teacher of special education before I took her out of that honest line of work?

MCCAIN: "[...] I think No Child Left Behind needs to be fixed. However, I think it was a right beginning. I think we need to be able to judge [...] students' performance all over America. [...] But now [...] we need to go back and sit down together again Republican and Democrat and fix what needs to be fixed.

MCCAIN: "And [...] some of what needs to be fixed is more full funding for some of the programs that were never adequately funded, as you know. Including special education. Including this terrible problem that you're very aware of in this rise in autism amongst children in America. It's a terrible thing that's happening. And it's going to require additional educational capabilities.

MCCAIN: "So I want to fix it but I also have to give you a little more straight talk. I'm for choice and competition. Now Cindy and I had the money to send—the ability to send our kids to Catholic school. I want every American to be able to send their child to the school of their choice.

MCCAIN: "[...] Charter schools work. Charter schools are good competition. Some of them don't work. Some of them don't work, so they should fail. But if you look at New York City today and if you look at New Orleans [...] New York City's education has improved rather dramatically. And also, New Orleans because they had to start from Square One because of the tragedy of Katrina; they know have 30 charter schools there. And the quality of education is improving.

MCCAIN: "Learn the lessons of No Child Left Behind. Fix the problem. Reward good teachers. Find bad teachers another line of work. Fix education, which is the future of America."

LABEL: JM OH 7-9 (SD#25) GHBST-ClipE

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John McCain: Town Hall Meeting 02/15/08

2008-10-27T03:29:35Z

John McCain
Town Hall
Osh Kosh, WI 02/15/08

TRANSCRIPT:
JOHN MCCAIN: "The essence of education, in my view, has to do with just two words: competition and quality. Competition and quality. And choice.

"Three. Choice."

"I want every American family to have the same opportunity that Cindy and I did."

LABEL: JM WI 2-15 (JR#51) F-ClipI

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John McCain: Town Hall Meeting 01/06/08

2008-10-27T03:29:24Z

John McCain
Town Hall Meeting
Salem, NH 01/06/08

TRANSCRIPT:
JOHN MCCAIN: "I plan to take up immediately the No Child Left Behind Act."
[...]
"It also means fully funding those Federal programs that are a Federal responsibility such as special education. We are seeing unfortunately a terrible rise in autism in this country, which means we have to have a larger amount of federal funding in that direction."

LABEL: JM NH 1-6 (JR#23) F-ClipB

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John McCain: Town Hall Meeting 01/04/08

2008-10-26T21:31:15Z

John McCain
Town Hall Meeting
Hudson, NH 01/04/08

TRANSCRIPT:
JOHN MCCAIN: "I also feel strongly that we must fully fund special education programs."

"If we're gonna pass a law that calls for a program then we should fund that program."

"I am not gonna mandate programs that we're not gonna have the federal government pay for."

LABEL: JM NH 1-4 (JR#20) F-ClipB

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John McCain: Town Hall Meeting 01/02/08

2008-10-26T21:31:13Z

John McCain
Town Hall Meeting
Pembroke, NH 01/02/08

TRANSCRIPTION
JOHN MCCAIN: "We need to fully fund programs like special education."

"I want every parent to have the choice Cindy and I did."

"I am keenly aware of the problems with No Child Left Behind."

LABEL: JM NH 1-2 (JC#54) AEFKJ - ClipB

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John McCain: Town Hall 03/14/08

2008-10-26T21:30:44Z

John McCain
Town Hall
Springfield, PA 03-14-08

TRANSCRIPT:
JOE BOZACK: "My name is, I'm sorry, this is my boss, sir. My name is Joe Bozack and this is school superintendent of the Springfield Delaware school district ..."

JOHN MCCAIN: "Are you reporters?"

BOZACK: "We are, sir, with the school newspaper."

SUPERINTENDENT: "I need your help, as a superintendent of the school district were you are..."

MCCAIN: "Sir, you gotta ask me a question, that is what this is about. You gotta ask a question."

SUPERINTENDENT: "No Child left behind. We believe in accountability but we need help with special education students, we need help with children that can't... "

MCCAIN: "And you still need to ask me a question."

SUPERINTENDENT: How will you fix no child left behind?

LABEL: JM PA 3-14 (JC#119) ACGZZ - ClipU

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John McCain: Town Hall 04/02/08

2008-10-26T21:30:30Z

John McCain
"Service to America" Town Hall
Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA

TRANSCRIPT:
MCCAIN: "I supported the No Child Left Behind Act because it recognizes that we can no longer accept high standards for some students and low standards for others. With honest reporting of student progress we begin to see what is happening to students who were previously invisible to us. That is progress on its own, but we can and we must do better.

If a failing school won't change, it shouldn't be beyond the reach of students to change their schools. Parents should be able to send their children to the school that best suits their needs just as Cindy and I have been able to do, whether it is a public, private or parochial school. The result will not be the demise of the public school system in America, but competition that will help make public schools accountable and as successful as they should be in a country as great and prosperous as ours. Teaching is among the most honorable professions any American can join. After our parents, few people influence our early life as profoundly as teachers. Theirs is an underpaid profession, dedicated to the service of others, which offers little in the way of the rewards that much of popular culture encourages us to crave -- wealth and celebrity. But though it might lack much in the way of creature comforts and renown, teaching offers a reward far more valuable: the profound satisfaction that comes from knowing you have made a difference for the better in someone else's life. Good teachers occupy a place in our memory that accords them a reverence we give few others. We should be wise enough to understand that those who work diligently and lovingly to educate the children we entrust to their care, deserve the gratitude and support many of us wish we had given those of our own teachers, who once made such a difference in our own lives.

We should reward the best of them with merit pay, and encourage teachers who have lost their focus on the children they teach to find another line of work. Schools should compete to be innovative, flexible and student-centered institutions, not safe havens for the uninspired and unaccountable. They should be able to compete for dedicated, effective, character-building teachers, hire them and reward them."

Clip label: JM VA 04-01 (SD#22) F - Clip L

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John McCain: Town Hall 04/21/08

2008-10-26T21:30:23Z

John McCain
Speech and Town Hall
Thomasville, AL 04/21/08

TRANSCRIPT:
JOHN MCCAIN: "[teachers] ought to be rewarded for merit and performance and not solely for the years they've spent in the profession."

LABEL: JM AL 4-21 (JC#124) AFGK - ClipC

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John McCain: Town Hall 04/21/08

2008-10-26T21:30:23Z

John McCain
Speech and Town Hall
Thomasville, AL 04/21/08

TRANSCRIPT:
JOHN MCCAIN: "There are terrific organizations like Teach For America. They attract the very best young college graduates from all disciplines to enter the teaching profession. The Troops to Teachers programs takes advantage of the sense of heightened responsibility and duty that military veterans were taught in the discipline of the armed forces and makes many of them excellent candidates to impart those virtues to our children and help them see the value of learning as a means to self improvement."

LABEL: JM AL 4-21 (JC#124) AFGK - ClipD

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John McCain: Town Hall 6/12/08

2008-10-26T21:29:43Z

John McCain
Town Hall
Nashua, NH 06/12/08

TRANSCRIPT:
QUESTIONER: "I'm a school board in Exeter and I'd like to ask you what your feeling is on No Child Left Behind. It is a well intentioned program but it is not working. We have wonderful teachers who are frustrated, principals who are losing because we have a program that's impossible to meet. We want to educate our kids and we do a fantastic job but the problem is the expectations are we'll have everybody by 2013 at grade level and we have autistic children, we have children with all types of learning disabilities. We have no other program of testing for these kids that are allowed and it's a frustration with us as school board members, teachers, faculty, administrators. It's tough. Do you have an answer or do you have a goal for this?"

JOHN MCCAIN: "I have, yes and I'd like you to hang on to the microphone because you are obviously well versed on this issue. Very quickly, No Child Left Behind, in my view, was a good beginning. It was the first time we've tried to give parents an opportunity to compare their child's performance with other children across this country. It was a good effort at trying to improve teacher performance. It was a good effort in trying to have some form of standardized testing. But it was also, as you know, basically revolutionary. It was the first time the federal government had moved into a major role in education in America. But I would also like to remind you that education in America needed fixing. So well, people who say, let's just scrap the No Child Left Behind. Let's fix it. Let's learn the lessons of the years, of the intervening years. Let's all sit down together, Republican and Democrat, liberal and conservative and say, look, we'll work together, learn the lessons of it. And by the way, also, fully fund these special education programs which are a federal responsibility. Autism is on the rise in America. You know how tragic that is, it's incredible, we've got to find out the cause of it by the way my friends. We've got to fix the No Child Left Behind and give a better opportunity to children. Finally, one other comment, I was recently in the city of New Orleans. The city of New Orleans as we all know experienced a great tragedy and they had to start literally from square one on education and guess what, there are now thirty charter schools in the city of New Orleans and guess what, education is on a path to dramatic improvement in the city of New Orleans because parents have a choice. [applause] Because parents are being given a choice. Choice and competition is the answer. Please respond."

QUESTIONER: "I think that's great. And one of the solutions that have been brought out has been follow the child. That is what you need to do, you need to look at each individual child and state that the child is growing, the child is learning. When you have an ECAP test or any other test that comes through with a level that has risen every two years, it comes to the point where it is impossible to meet the expectations and therefore you're right, it's a great theory and I agree with it. It just needs to be revamped and it needs to be made attainable so that—"

MCCAIN: "Lessons learned. Lessons learned."

QUESTIONER: "I agree with that. I agree with that. And I'm just asking you to take a look at what needs to be changed."

MCCAIN: "I will and I will make one additional editorial comment. Why don't we reward good teachers and find good teachers." [applause]

LABEL: JM NH 6-12 (GR#88) DdHECS - Clip C

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John McCain: Town Hall Meeting 04/01/08

2008-10-27T03:29:40Z

John McCain
Town Hall Meeting
Alexandria, VA 04/01/08

TRANSCRIPT:
JOHN MCCAIN: "Every child in America should be blessed with a teacher like I had. And to learn at institutions with high academic standards and codes of conduct that reinforce the values their parents try to import—impart to them. Many students, including here, do have that opportunity. But sadly, many do not. Too many. And government should be considered with their fate. I supported the No Child Left Behind Act because it recognizes that we can no longer accept high standards for some students and low standards for others. With honest reporting of student progress, we begin to see what is happening to students who were previously invisible to us. That is progress on its own. But we can and we must do better. If a failing school won't change, it shouldn't be beyond the reach of students to change their schools. Parents should be able to send their children to the school that best suits their needs, just as Cindy and I have been able to do, whether it's a public private or parochial school. The result will not be the demise of the public school system in America, but competition, competition that will help make public schools accountable and as successful as they should be in a country as great and as prosperous as ours."

LABEL: JM VA 04-01 (SD#22) FJOR-ClipB

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Elizabeth Edwards on No Child Left Behind

2008-12-02T16:24:10Z

On January 20th, several bloggers sat down with Elizabeth Edwards in Iowa City, IA and asked her questions on a variety of topics. One of the most interesting conversations revolved around No Child Left Behind. Mrs. Edwards made several insightful comments.

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"I want to be the education President."

2008-12-02T14:45:51Z

Gov. Bill Richardson talks about his comprehensive education plan at the CNN Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Will Education be a Major Issue in '08?

2008-10-23T09:33:34Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Panelists William Gates Sr., Tommy Thompson and Margaret Spellings discuss the importance of education as a policy issue in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election.

This excerpt is taken from a panel discussion on the current state of U.S. education, recorded at the 2007 Aspen Ideas Festival.

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On Education with discussants William H. Gates, Sr., Gov. Tommy G. Thompson and Education Sec. Margaret Spellings speaking at the 2007 Aspen Ideas Festival. David Gergen moderates the discussion.

Some of the most inspired and provocative thinkers, writers, artists, business people, teachers and other leaders drawn from myriad fields and from across the country and around the world all gathered in a single place - to teach, speak, lead, question, and answer at the 2006 Aspen Ideas Festival. Throughout the week, they all interacted with an audience of thoughtful people who stepped back from their day-to-day routines to delve deeply into a world of ideas, thought, and discussion.

William H. Gates, Sr., is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of the Initiative for Global Development, a group of local civic and political leaders that is urging the US Government to increase its foreign-assistance spending to combat global poverty. As an attorney, Gates helped establish Preston Gates & Ellis, one of Seattle’s leading law firms, and has served as president of both the Seattle/King County Bar Association and the Washington State Bar Association.

Tommy G. Thompson served from 2001 to 2005 as US Secretary of Health and Human Services. Before that, he served four terms as the 42nd Governor of Wisconsin, where he enacted the state’s landmark welfare-to-work legislation and created the nation’s first parental school choice program. He also served as a representative in the Wisconsin State Assembly. Formerly a Republican candidate for the 2008 presidential election, Gov. Thompson withdrew from the race in August 2007.

Margaret Spellings is the US Secretary of Education. Prior to her tenure as Education Secretary, she served as Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, where she helped create the No Child Left Behind Act and crafted policies on education, immigration, health care, labor, transportation, justice, housing, and other elements of the President’s domestic agenda. Previously, she worked for six years as senior advisor to Governor George W. Bush with responsibility for developing and implementing education reforms and policies.

David Gergen is Public Service Professor of Public Leadership and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Over the past three decades, he has served as a White House advisor to four presidents: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. In the mid-1980s, he began a career in journalism, becoming editor of U.S. News & World Report. He joined the Kennedy School faculty in January 1999, while remaining editor-at-large for U.S. News and a frequent television analyst. He is the author of Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton.

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John Edwards - Miss Burns

2008-10-24T09:30:41Z

John Edwards talks about the importance of teachers and his plans for Public Education in America in Des Moines, Iowa on September 21, 2007.

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No Child Left Behind: Truths and Consequences

2008-12-02T16:38:49Z

Educators and students speak out against NCLB. Hear their voices, then make your voice heard. The time to act is NOW!

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Elizabeth Edwards - Beech Street School

2008-10-25T03:30:10Z

Elizabeth Edwards visit the Beech Street School in Manchester, N.H. on August 30, 2007.

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