President Barack Obama urges Congress to send him education reform bill

• Associated Press
• Posted March 14, 2011 at 10:40 p.m.

WASHINGTON - Urging Congress to send him a new education law by fall, President Barack Obama focused Monday on the big concerns of parents and lawmakers alike: how student progress is measured and how schools that fall short are labeled.
Citing new estimates, Obama said four out of five schools may be tagged as failures this year under provisions of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law.
"That's an astonishing number," he said. "We know that four out of five schools in this country aren't failing. So what we're doing to measure success and failure is out of line."
Obama's call for a rewrite of the education law appears unlikely, at least by his September deadline. The House education committee's Republican chairman acknowledged the need for improvement but called the president's time line "arbitrary."
Obama he said improvements are needed in measuring student progress and labeling schools that fall short. He called for measuring creativity and critical thinking along with math and reading skills, and for rewarding good teachers while showing little leniency for bad ones.
"In the 21st century, it's not enough to leave no child behind," Obama said. "We need to help every child get ahead. We need to get every child on a path to academic excellence."