When the junior senator from the Bay State came to the AFT's biannual QuEST conference in July 2003, he quipped that Massachusetts was the Native American word for "Land of Many Kennedys."  Today at the AFT Convention, the delegates heard a speech designed to please from one member of the Kennedy clan, the senior senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy.

I thought Sen. Kennedy might stay away from any mention of No Child Left Behind, but he took the issue head on, delivering some harsh words for the Bush Administration while maintaining his commitment to what he views as the "enduring truth of NCLB"--the opportunity to learn.  He also recognized that teachers held the same "moral commitment" that drives NCLB "long before President Bush signed it into law."

Among his criticisms, Sen. Kennedy said the Bush Administration not only underfunded the law, but had also "turned it into an empty slogan." And, he said that the Bush Administration was "more interested in admonishing public schools than helping them."

Kennedy pledged to "reshape the commitment to NCLB" and, joining in on the AFT's Convention theme, he said the delegates could "count him in" to work for funding and improving NCLB.