BY R.A. DYER

Knight Ridder Newspapers

FORT WORTH, Texas - (KRT) - It has been described as one of the federal government's most important education initiatives ever. Through it, President Bush has aimed to improve teacher quality, enhance academic progress and increase the number of high school graduates.

But does No Child Left Behind - a law that brings Texas-style education initiatives to the national stage - actually work?

In the run-up to this year's presidential election, heated debate over Iraq and the economy has all but drowned out discussion of education.

And yet, according to some estimates, more than 3,000 students drop out of school every day. Of students who do graduate, nearly one-third read at a -below basic" level - meaning they can barely comprehend their textbooks - according to the nonpartisan Alliance for Excellent Education.

How would No Child Left Behind affect those abysmal numbers? If he's elected president, what would Democrat John Kerry do to modify the program? What would Bush do?

Besides being one of the farthest-reaching education initiatives ever undertaken by the federal government, NCLB is also one of the most controversial.

Bush, who describes the law as "the most important federal education reform in history," cites rising test scores as proof that it works. "America's schools are getting better, and nothing will hold us back," Bush said during his party's nominating speech at the Republican National Convention in New York.

Kerry says the administration has failed to properly fund NCLB. "Millions of children have been left behind - left with overcrowded classrooms, left without textbooks and left without high-quality tests that measure what they are learning," Kerry said during a recent gathering of the American Federation of Teachers.

In a nutshell, No Child Left Behind requires states to set and meet standards for what children should learn. It was adopted by Congress with bipartisan support - including a yes vote from Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts - and signed into law two years ago.

NCLB sets forth a number of policy goals upon which almost everyone agrees: Through it, the federal government seeks to improve early reading instruction, upgrade the quality of teachers in low-income schools and encourage student progress.

Like the Texas accountability system, the law mandates regular testing. Schools must get students to meet minimum math and reading scores. The law increases those minimums through 2014, when No Child Left Behind requires all students to test at a "proficient" level.

According to an analysis by Education Week, districts have reported varied progress. For instance, 18 of California's 1,056 districts were recently listed as needing improvement under the act. One-third of Rhode Island's 36 districts were also listed as needing improvement, the magazine reported.

Schools that consistently fail to make progress can face sanctions, and children in low-performing schools can obtain transfers to better ones.

Bush built support for the law by pointing to successes in the Texas test-based accountability system, which he championed while governor. But the Texas system has taken hits in recent months.

For instance, the Houston school district, which was touted as part of "the Texas miracle" when Bush ran for president four years ago, has been cited for dramatically underreporting dropouts and campus crime. Education Secretary Rod Paige formerly served as superintendent of the district.

Several nonpartisan public-interest groups also have found serious flaws in No Child Left Behind. Perhaps the biggest is that the federal government has created unfunded mandates by not giving states enough money to comply with the law.

Although the Bush administration has presided over a 49 percent increase in federal support for elementary and secondary education since 2001, that's far short of the money authorized under the legislation, say nonpartisan education groups.

"The fact that this has not been fulfilled at the same time that the combination of earlier state tax cuts and a national recession created fiscal cutbacks in almost all states has made a very difficult situation seem impossible to many educators," reports the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University.

Kerry says he'd increase NCLB funding through a National Education Trust Fund that would deliver an extra $200 billion over 10 years. But how he would find that money raises other questions: Kerry says it would come from rolling back tax cuts for the wealthy. But independent observers have said that's not enough if Kerry also fulfills campaign promises to shrink the deficit and expand health-care funding.

Other concerns about NCLB include:

_Nationally, only about 68 percent of ninth-graders graduate on time while only about half of black and Hispanic students earn diplomas alongside their white counterparts, according to Harvard's Civil Rights Project. Despite those numbers, the U.S. Education Department has issued `No Child' regulations that all but eliminate graduation-rate accountability for minority subgroups, the Civil Rights Project reports.

_A survey of teachers found that many believe NCLB sanctions would cause instructors to transfer from schools not making adequate progress. "These results suggest that there is a very serious problem in getting teachers to make a long-term commitment to teach in poorly performing schools," the Civil Rights Project notes.

_Some states have lowered pre-existing standards to comply with the new rules. In Texas, for instance, members of the State Board for Educator Certification weakened teacher-licensing standards.

Bush, for his part, has promised to fund programs for at-risk high schoolers and to put more emphasis on the teaching of math and science. "We are transforming our schools by raising standards and focusing on results," Bush said on Sept. 2, when he accepted the Republican nomination.

But Kerry says he would reform the law when it comes up for review in 2007. For instance, the accountability standards need to change to include such factors as teacher and student attendance and parental satisfaction, he said.

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BUSH'S EDUCATION PROPOSAL

_ Pledges to fund programs for at-risk high schoolers and place more emphasis on teaching math and science.

_ Proposes strengthening Head Start, a federally funded program for economically disadvantaged preschoolers.

_ Calls for an additional $200 million annually to help high schoolers who fall behind in reading.

_ Pledges an additional $28 million in the 2005 budget to help bring Advanced Placement courses to low-income students.

_ Calls for an additional $250 million each year to extend state testing for reading and math in grades three through 11.

KERRY'S EDUCATION PROPOSAL

_ Proposes a National Education Trust Fund at a cost of about $200 billion over the next decade.

_ Wants ways to measure student performance other than standardized tests. Such alternatives would include reviewing teacher and student attendance and reviewing parental satisfaction.

_ Proposes expanding after-school programs.

_ Calls for the federal government to issue $24.8 billion in bonds to pay for the construction and repair of schools.

_ Pledges to close loopholes in the law's definition of a highly qualified teacher. He would also require rigorous tests for new teachers.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

Education Commission to the States, www.ecs.org; Education Week, www.edweek.com; The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu; Bush-Cheney campaign, www.georgewbush.com; Kerry-Edwards campaign, www.johnkerry.com.

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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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