Bush's school policy put to music

President Bush made education a domestic priority

Sean Coughlan BBC News Online education staff

"We're here to thank our President,
For signing this great bill,
That's right! Yeah."

So run the lyrics to No Child Left Behind - one of the few songs to have been inspired by education policy.

No Child Left Behind is the title of President Bush's legislation to raise standards in schools in the United States.

Before that it was used as a presidential election slogan when the Republicans were promising to make education a priority.

And now it is to become a song which will be used to promote the president's educational reforms.

Under the banner of No Child Left Behind, President Bush's administration is seeking to increase testing, promote school choice, raise literacy levels and improve the quality of teaching.

But while political opponents want the policy put to the sword, songwriters have put it to music.

25-date roadshow

Education department spokesperson Dan Langan told BBC News Online that the music might be played as a theme song at promotional events or as holding music by the department's telephone switchboard.

The song's writer brought the idea to the department - said Mr Langan. And it was welcomed as a "neat idea" which offered a "light hearted approach to a serious subject".

The reforms proposed are far-reaching, he said, and it was important to find accessible ways of raising awareness.

There is already a No Child Left Behind website and a newsletter called The Achiever, which promotes the education package signed by the president in January.

And there is also a No Child Left Behind Tour Across America, in which the federal education secretary, Rod Paige, is taking a promotional roadshow to 25 different venues across the country.

Ticker tape

While the direction of United States education policy might be familiar to people in the United Kingdom, this form of razzmatazz for promoting policy will be less familiar.

Education policy promotion in the UK sometimes might not seem to stretch further than a stirring speech to heads enjoying a day out of school.

Or perhaps a poster for parents pinned up in a public library.

But the No Child Left Behind roadshow kicked off with ticker tape reception in Albuquerque - and a rally attended by an Olympic gold medallist and this year's Miss Navajo Nation.

And now it seems the campaign is to have its own theme song.

However the education department says there are no immediate plans for the song to be released as a single.

Bush wants more testing in schools.