Last modified: Thursday, March 15, 2007 1:46 AM EDT Changes in law win backing BY RICK FOSTER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO - U.S. Sen Edward Kennedy has already said he favors changing the No Child Left Behind Act with more funding and other reforms designed to help schools meet students' needs. Now, the chairman of the Senate Education Committee has a little more ammunition to add to his argument, thanks in part to Attleboro School Superintendent Pia Durkin and Mayor Kevin Dumas. Durkin and Dumas were part of a select group of municipal and education officials from communities including Brockton, Lowell, Worcester, New Bedford, Holyoke and Marlboro who met with the senator earlier this month. Kennedy was among the advocates of No Child Left Behind when it was passed in 2002, but has been critical of the federal government for failing to provide sufficient funds to implement it. The No Child Left Behind Act expires this year. Joint hearings were held earlier this month before Kennedy's committee and the House education committee, the first step in the planned reauthorization of the law. Durkin said Kennedy heard plenty of support for keeping educational spending high, but also pleas for reform. The current system uses student achievement measured by a statewide testing system to determine whether each school is making adequate yearly process toward the goal of every student in every school reaching proficiency in their studies by 2014. Testing is not limited to mainsteam students. Children in special education classes and those with little command of English are also included. Durkin said the system also does not take into account students who stay in high school longer than the standard four years, regardless of their academic achievement. The Attleboro superintendent said that because the system measures only whether children achieved pre-set achievement marks and not how much they improved, there is "almost a gotcha attitude" embodied in the present system in which whole schools may fail because certain academic subgroups did not reach expected goals. Last year, five of the city's eight schools failed to meet adequate yearly progress criteria. In addition, the high school has been placed on warning status by the New England Association of Secondary Schools. Schools that fail to achieve goals two or more years in a row face sanctions that gradually increase from allowing parents to pick alternative schools to reorganization. Durkin says that while she does not advocate lowering standards, she believes the system should factor in a "value added" equation in which schools would receive credit for raising achievement, even if all students did not receive passing grades. The superintendent said she fears harshly penalizing school districts under the current criteria might create the equivalent of the Scarlet Letter on local school systems, driving down enrollment and making it harder for troubled schools to attract talented teachers and administrators needed to turn them around. President George W. Bush in a recent speech acknowledged the need to accommodate special needs students within the No Child Left Behind system, although he said that flexibility should not be used to water down overall standards. Bush also said in a March 2 speech at the Silver Street School in New Albany, Ind., that he believes there should be consequences when school systems fail, and that local communities should bear most of the responsibility for funding education.