President Bush this week announced a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Education and the Broad Foundation-in conjunction with Standard & Poor's and the education data-crunching outfit Just for the Kids (JFTK) - to make disaggregated state student achievement data and other NCLB-related information readily available via the web for parents and policy makers. Uncle Sam will supply $4.7 million over two years for a "No Child Left Behind Website," while Broad and other groups will kick in more than $50 million to get the project going. Standard & Poor's and JFTK will ramp up their present efforts at providing info about state achievement data for a national effort. "We want full disclosure," said Bush. "We have nothing to hide in America when it comes to results." The trip was part of a determined pushback by the White House on behalf of its signature education law, which is becoming a major issue in the developing presidential campaign as Democratic contenders attack NCLB on various grounds, mostly having to do with money.
"Bush touts new system to track education data," by Edwin Chen, Los Angeles Times, September 9, 2003