President Obama, No Child Left Behind, Education and Race

Almost two years into his Presidential term of office, President Obama has, at times, been of some frustration to various political categories and to members of various ethnic groups. For example, under the leadership of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, President Obama has indicated a desire to rewrite the controversial No Child Left Behind (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) (NCLB) educational reform superstructure. However, when one listens closely to the types of reforms offered, the fundamental values of NCLB, as enacted during the administration of George W. Bush, of accountability and choice remain the cornerstone of the Obama educational policy. Although the Obama administration has heard the cry of the left for more funding for education, its support of greater funding has been inextricably tied to incentives and accountability, such as with the Race to the Top program for states meeting federally determined criterion regarding the opening of charter schools (choice) and merit structures for teachers (accountability). Ideas traditionally triumphed by civil rights progressives regarding educational reform such as school finance equalization and integration, however, have remained low on the administration’s priority list.President Obama and his education policy offer a fascinating and fecund case study of what it means to grapple with the idea of living in a post-racial era. This presentation will offer the idea that President Obama is a leader who constantly and in an authentic manner integrates his self-identity as an African American into his leadership while concomitantly attempting to achieve manifestation and results as a post-racial leader. In attempting to achieve this two-fold integration, I will argue, President Obama is both inordinately complex and fiercely consistent. For example, one manner of interpretation of his support of choice and accountability is through the black conservative belief that higher standards and values of excellence are the only successful manner to empower lower performing minorities to higher achievement. A necessary corollary of this belief is that to focus upon the need for school finance equalization and integration is inevitably paternalistic in a manner that ultimately stigmatizes minorities as inherently inferior and in need of help and support. Another way to understand the educational policies of the Obama administration is to view them as informed by ideas such as interest-convergence described by proponents of the far left such as Professor Derrick Bell and Professor Lani Guinear. Under an idea of interest convergence, one can understand President Obama’s support for choice and accountability policies as belief that the only meaningful educational reform which will enhance minority performance will be achieved when presented in a manner that converges with the interests in greater educational achievement for the dominant ethnic groups. In other words, choice and accountability will work because they can ultimately gain support in a manner that redistributive polices such as integration and finance equalization cannot.This presentation will argue that President Obama existentially, simultaneously, and consistently represents both of these views. It will argue that both views at their roots are based on an understanding of the inevitability of racialized hegemony by a dominant group. The paper will also outline the specific mechanisms of the current No Child Left Behind Act, and the specific proposals offered by the Obama administration for its reform. It will argue that NCLB can be viewed as a racially progressive law, but that it must be strengthened and reformed to achieve its purposes. Ultimately, the paper presentation will claim that the myriad complexity of President Obama’s interest-convergence/values of excellence approach is the only way to achieve greater racial equity through educational policy.