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NewsFlash: June 10, 2008

Expert Task Force Charges School Reform Alone Will Fail in Closing Achievement Gap

Diverse Bipartisan Group Launches Campaign for ‘Broader, Bolder’ Policies to Improve Education, Bridge Achievement Gaps

Washington, DC, June 10, 2008 – A new task force of national policy experts with diverse religious and political affiliations, in public policy fields including education, social welfare, health, housing, and civil rights today launched a campaign calling for a “Broader, Bolder Approach to Education” [PDF] to break a decades-long cycle of reform efforts that promised much and have achieved far too little.

Co-chaired by Helen Ladd, a Duke University professor of public policy studies, Pedro Noguera, a sociologist at New York University and an expert on educational policy, and Tom Payzant, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a former Boston schools superintendent and U.S. assistant secretary of education, the Task Force’s framework points to the many flaws in the approach of the current No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law and charges that the nation’s education and youth development policy has erred by relying on school improvement alone to raise achievement levels of disadvantaged children.

To read the full statement and view the list of signers with their biographical information, please visit www.boldapproach.org. 
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