Obama pledges to overhaul controversial education laws to target failing schools

PRESIDENT Barack Obama promised yesterday to rewrite America's controversial education law known as No Child Left Behind with a plan to prepare students for life after high school and to place better teachers at the blackboards.

Obama said he would send Congress his proposed overhaul of the 2001 education law that focused on accountability in the classroom but has fallen short of its original goals.

The announcement's timing suggests he is looking beyond the healthcare reform proposal that still lingers in Congress, has delayed the president's international trip this week and threatens his party's electoral prospects in November.

Education – unlike financial regulatory reform or environmental laws also on Congress's radar – is a kitchen-table issue certain to resonate with voters looking at Republicans seeking to re-take both chambers of Congress in November

"Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded, and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down," Obama said in his weekly radio and internet address. "For the majority of schools that fall in between – schools that do well but could do better – we will encourage continuous improvement to help keep our young people on track for a bright future, prepared for the jobs of the 21st century."

Only about 70 per cent of children who enter high school graduate. The problem affects blacks and Latinos at particularly high rates.