New vision for schools?

An article in today's New York Times highlights the vision of Randi Weingarten, the incumbent president of the American Federation of Teachers, which is the national teachers union. Sepcifically, Ms. Weingarten envisions replacing No Child Left Behind with a new model that focuses not on test scores, but on expanding schools as community resources. Schools, under this vision, would expand upon traditional classroom education to provide students with after-school programs, child care, tutoring, medical, dental, and social support.

It sounds a lot like the idea of Community Learning Centers, only expanded and taken to scale as a national model rather than scattered sites that worry about losing or renewing funding. Granted, this is coming from the AFT rather than from the Department of Education, which still strongly supports No Child Left Behind. But it will be interesting to see in the comming months, particularly with a shift in presidential administration in one direction or the other, what happens with the national vision for education, and whether this idea takes sway.

I'm also curious what you think of the idea.