What Programs Work on Wine?

How does Obama know certain programs don't work (read info)? And he does not propose any specific earmarks fo?

• In his recent 60 minutes interview, Obama mentioned as he has before that we have to eliminate programs that are not working. But as we have seen with the Bush administration, programs often don't work merely because there is not sufficient funding for them, not because they would not otherwise work (if enough money was put towards them), case in point no child left behind. So how can Obama say that programs do not work, or for that matter determine which ones do not work, when they may simply not seem to be working because they are insufficiently funded? Also, Obama has said that more funding should be put into "new programs" as well as those which work, but as far as I know he has never made it clear what type of programs or how else he would be spending money, which is one reason why I was skeptical about voting for him. Has he ever made any reference to this, and if so when/ is it on a site?

• Answer:

  I do not believe that No Child Left Behind is not working because of funding. I think it is a poorly planned and executed program. Because of the importance that NCLB has placed on testing, it encourages schools to teach to the test. Over the time of this law, Congress increased federal funding of education, from $42.2 billion in 2001 to $54.4 billion in 2007. This equates to an increase which outpaced inflation by 5%. No Child Left Behind received a 40.4% increase from $17.4 billion in 2001 to $24.4 billion. The funding for reading quadrupled from $286 million in 2001 to $1.2 billion. [8] A 2008 study from the Department of Ed, “Reading First Impact Study: Interim Report,” analyzes the performance of students in 12 states who were in grades one to three during the 2004-5 and 2005-6 school years and concluded that the Reading First Program, a major billion dollar a year NCLB effort, had proven "ineffective." A final report on the impacts from 2004-2007 (three school years with Reading First funding) and on the relationships between changes in instructional practice and student reading comprehension is expected in late 2008.[9 As you can see, plenty of funding was given. The problems occur because have to be so focused on testing, instead of just teaching.