NCLB

And he did it in front of a tough crowd, the National Education Association, which opposes the concept.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama today endorsed the idea of merit pay for teachers before an audience hostile to the idea, the giant National Education Association, but he softened the blow by telling the union's national assembly that he would not use "arbitrary tests" to link pay to performance.

"I think there should be ways for us to work with the NEA, with teachers' unions, to figure out a way to measure success," Obama told a crowd of about 9,000 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. "I want to work with teachers. I'm not going to do it too you, I'm going to do it with you."

It was a measure of Democrat Obama's rock-star appeal that he did not draw any hisses with the pronouncement, and even got scattered applause. Obama's endorsement of merit pay for teachers was the first note deviating from the promise-anything tenor of visits by several presidential candidates to the union this week.

Obama also took the opportunity to call for "across the board" pay increases for teachers and added incentives for those who are willing to work in low-performing schools. He re-affiirmed his opposition to No Child Left Behind, saying he would not support it's reauthorization, an issue of major concern to the NEA.

Barack's Choices page on Education has been updated in light of this new information.

The biggest failing of the current ESEA (aka No Child Left Behind), other than the woeful underfunding, is its reliance on only one measure of achievement, a single test. The one-day snapshot from a standardized test is an unfair, inaccurate and misleading measure of student achievement. It has caused an over-emphasis on teaching to the test at the expense of other programs like foreign languages, art, music and PE. The current one-size-fits all approach is hurting all our kids and pushing struggling students behind.

California has recognized the limitations of that model, especially as it relates to the improvement of our ESL, minority and disabled students. Too often these students are left behind, and schools unfairly punished for having high proportions of special needs students under NCLB. New state rules require that our schools make progress towards closing the gap between whites and lower-achieving minority students. From the LAT:

"It's going to be more challenging for schools to reach their growth target," said state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. But "closing the achievement gap is not only an economic imperative, but a moral imperative."

The state's primary measure of success is the Academic Performance Index, which grades schools on a scale from 200 to 1,000 based on student test scores in math, English and other subjects. Schools are required to meet annual improvement targets. Minorities, the poor, the disabled and other groups also have to improve, but until this year, the achievement gap could widen even while a school received credit for getting better.

The API is not perfect, but it is a lot better at measuring school performance than the feds' single test system. Looking at straight across-the-board improvement is not enough. California is focused on improving the performance of all students and truly not leaving anybody behind.