AUBURN — An education official representing the Obama administration will visit Auburn on Thursday to hear what people think
about No Child Left Behind, federal legislation that sets standards and penalties for statewide testing, officials said Tuesday.

Glenn Cummings, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office
of Vocational and Adult
Education will host a public forum at 5:45 p.m. as part of the U.S.
Secretary of Education’s national “Listening and Learning: A
Conversation about Education Reform” tour. Cummings also will take
comments on the Obama administration’s education agenda.

Cummings, former Maine Speaker of the House, was appointed to the Washington, D.C., post in April.

The No Child Left Behind Act, pushed and signed by former President
George W. Bush, has been criticized by local educators as unfairly
flagging schools as “failing” when groups of students are not able to
achieve grade-level scores.

That’s especially true in Lewiston. Under No Child Left Behind,
students must be at their grade levels in subjects, including immigrants
learning to speak English.

The law says immigrant students don’t have to take standardized
exams during their first year in the country, but they do after one
year. One year is not enough time to learn a new language well enough
to take achievement tests, educators have said.

Also on Thursday, Auburn’s after-school program, the Community
Learning Center, will host a “Lights On After School” open house from 4:15 to 6:15 p.m. at Auburn Middle School, one of
7,500 “lights on” events across the nation.

After-school programs exist in most Auburn schools for 500
students in grades three through 12. Thursday’s open house will emphasize the
importance of keeping after-school programs open despite tight budgets. There will be demonstrations of activities,
including LEGO robotics and laptop technology, wellness activities and
samples of food prepared by students in the Sous Chefs cooking
program run by Auburn Police Officer Tom Poulin.

Auburn’s Community Learning Center helps low-performing students by providing homework
assistance, mentoring, tutoring, recreation and enrichment classes. For more information go to www.afterschoolalliance.org.

Go and do:
WHAT: Public forum on No Child Left Behind and rally for after-school program
WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 22. No Child Left Behind forum at 5:45 p.m.,
hosted by Obama administration representative Glenn Cummings, the U.S.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education.
After-school open house and activities demonstrations start at 4:15 p.m.
WHERE: Auburn Middle School