In yesterday's Chicago Tribune, Gerald J. Roper, President and CEO | Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, wrote an editorial in favor of NCLB ("No Child Left Behind"). We thought it was an important opinion that deserves to be heard. We encourage everyone to get involved in supporting the success of Decatur Public Schools as (a reason we need more algebra):
DPS 61 Success = Decatur's Success
Decatur's Sucess = DPS 61 Success
All hands need to be on deck as the Chicago Chamber of Commerce understands.
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By: Gerald J. Roper, President and CEO | Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce 9/20/2007
As children head back to classrooms this fall, the business community stands to gain by helping to nurture education reform. Establishing and maintaining quality education programs for all of our youth is critical to ensuring that Illinois has a trained, qualified workforce that can help our companies and our economy grow.
The No Child Left Behind Act is working to raise academic expectations for all students. The law has spurred schools across the country to focus on the qualifications and training of teachers, to use data to drive instruction and to emphasize results. Testing students to prove their proficiency and making those results public brings needed accountability to America's classrooms.
New studies are consistently showing that students are doing better on math and reading tests, and the achievement gap has narrowed. In fact, between 2002 and 2004 in Illinois, 5th grade proficiency in mathematics increased by roughly nine percentage points, the black-white achievement gap narrowed by seven points and the similar Hispanic-white gap narrowed by 16 points.
In reading, Illinois' 5th grade Hispanic-white achievement gap shrank by 10 points while the similar black-white achievement gap diminished four points. Further, the poor-not poor gap is also closing with low-income 5th graders improving three percentage points in reading and six in math compared to their higher-income peers.
The U.S. House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee is currently considering a draft bill that would, in effect, weaken the accountability provisions of the current law. We are making real progress in education reform and we urge Congress to strengthen and not undermine these important provisions.
The No Child Left Behind Act is helping to improve the performance of Illinois' K-12 education system and is necessary to provide a strong foundation for U.S. competitiveness.
We must ensure our future workforce is prepared to succeed in the 21st Century economy.
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