The Bush administration continues to make administrative changes to the No Child Left Behind Act as chances dwindle for Congress to overhaul the legislation for renewal this year and critics ponder their next step.
The federal education law, enacted in 2002, has been criticized for its strict testing procedures and for its requirements for students to reach certain benchmarks.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said yesterday that she will change provisions in the law to ensure that all states use the same formula to calculate high school dropout rates.
The administration has taken several other steps to placate critics of the law. Mrs. Spellings recently announced a pilot program that will give states more flexibility in responding to schools that fail to meet education standards.
She said she hoped to work with Congress on legislation to revise provisions, but “students and teachers need help now.”
Chairman Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, and other members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee are crafting legislation that they say will renew and improve the law. Aides said the goal is a vote on the bill this spring.
A full legislative victory is unlikely, however, because of the tight congressional schedule, the ongoing race for the Democratic presidential nomination and the Bush administration’s proposed changes to the law.
Mrs. Spellings “can read the handwriting on the wall and is trying [to] go get the changes the administration wants to see before they get out of town,” said Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust, a nonprofit organization that advocates education reform.
Peter Zamora, legal counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said some are “thinking about how one would start over.
The problem, Mr. Zamora said, is that conservatives are demanding school voucher programs and liberals want to equalize education funding at the local level.
Mr. Zamora said that requires a delicate political compromise and we don’t think there’s the political opportunity to start from scratch.”
No Child Left Behind will remain in effect even if Congress does not renew the act this year. After elections in November, however, a new administration and new Congress would mean “the blackboard is clean” in many respects, said Dan Lips, education analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Supporters of the law argue that the strict accountability measures raise expectations and help ensure that all children learn, regardless of race or socioeconomic status.
Gary Huggins, who heads the commission on the education law at the nonprofit Aspen Institute, said the administration needs to make any changes now if it wants to maintain accountability standards.
“We need to be really serious about [fixing] its real problems and legitimate complaints or the folks that are pushing back against accountability are going to have a huge success,” he said.
The administration has announced a pilot program that will allow 10 states to create more nuanced methods of distinguishing between schools that need aggressive intervention and schools that are close to achieving the benchmarks.
Mr. Zamora said he expects the administration to try to reclaim ownership of the education law, but it “isn’t going to satisfy” critics.
“The vehicle for really reforming [No Child Left Behind] is the reauthorization process,” he said.
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