Source Note 26

Title: Pros & Cons of the No Child Left Behind Act
Summary: This is a fair and balanced article discussing the pros and cons of the No Child Left Behind act, as well as possible reforms to it.

Topic: Should President Obama reform the No Child Left Behind law?
Category: Journalistic: Mainstream
What is it? An article by a freelance journalist for About.com
Publication Information: About.com, a part of The New York Times Company
Author: Deborah White
Location: http://usliberals.about.com/od/education/i/NCLBProsCons.htm
Accessed: 3/13/09

Support:
Senate Democrats are mentioned as being divided over this act.  Senate Republicans are mentioned as despising the act.  Teacher unions are mentioned indirectly as opposing the act as a whole. Utah Governor Jon Huntsman signed legislation allowing Utah schools to pull out of the No Child Left Behind act.  The Education Department is mentioned as threatening to withdraw funds from Utah. Former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is mentioned because of her book.  The Bush Administration is also mentioned in regards to this and how they want to strengthen the No Child Left Behind act.  The House of Representatives is mentioned because they passed the act.  George W. Bush is mentioned as signing the law.  Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts is mentioned as a major advocate of No Child Left Behind.  Texas Governor William P. Clements is mentioned because he worked with Spellings on her education reforms.  Robert Spellings is mentioned because he lobbied for school vouchers. Sen. Mike Enzi, Rep. George Miller and Rep. Howard McKeon are all mentioned as members of the commitee for the No Child Left Behind Act.

Audience and Agenda:
The New York Times Company is the leading media company in 2008, with revenues of $2.9 billion.  It includes papers such as the New York Times, The Boston Globe, etc… as well as over 50 web sites.

Usefulness:
This was a very useful article, and very fair in assessing the pros and cons of the No Child Left Behind act.  While the author had a definate bias, both sides were reported fairly.  There were also a lot of useful statistics given.    

Works Cited:

http://usliberals.about.com/mbiopage.htm

http://democrats.senate.gov/
http://www.nytco.com/company/index.html
http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml
http://www.utah.gov/governor/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Spellings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_George_W._Bush
http://www.house.gov/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/GeorgeWBush/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kennedy

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tamucush/00045/tamu-00045.html
http://www.robertdspellings.com/
http://enzi.senate.gov/public/
http://georgemiller.house.gov/
http://mckeon.house.gov/

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