South Carolina legislators have introduced a measure to pull the Palmetto State out of the Common Core national standards. Senator Mike Fair, who introduced the measure, voiced his concerns about the state’s involvement in the national standards push in the Greeneville News: The Legislature never had a chance to review Common …
In a press release issued late Thursday afternoon, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the following in response to skepticism on the part of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R) about the Common Core national standards push: The idea that the Common Core standards are nationally-imposed is a conspiracy theory in …
Like the rest of us, state and local policymakers across the country probably made New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier, exercise more, and finish those languishing projects around the house. Here’s hoping they’ll also add three education resolutions to their list. The year 2012 will be pivotal for education policy. …
There are numerous misconceptions about the impact that national education standards and tests would have on education. But a new misconception has surfaced: that centralized standards-setting will free teachers to teach. National standards proponents claim that standardizing what every public school child in America will learn will somehow liberate education. …
American taxpayers, businesses, and families are outraged by the nationalization of health care through Obamacare. They’re upset by the federal overreach, the loss of health care choices they’ll soon face, Obamacare’s astounding price tag, and the opaque process by which this massive legislation was enacted. If they found Obamacare upsetting, …
Supporters of the Common Core national standards push are becoming increasingly wary of Washington’s entanglement with what the Obama Administration has been trying to sell as “voluntary.” Writing in National Review Online last week, Checker Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, expressed his concern that the Administration’s No …
Wyoming is having second thoughts about adopting Common Core education standards. Concerned with the federal strings that are beginning to appear, some state legislators are trying to put the brakes on official adoption of the centralized standards. Wyoming State Representative Matt Teeters (R) asserted: “I’m not comfortable with the fact …
“No Child Left Behind [NCLB] and the Race to the Top [RTTT] grants are likely to be the high water mark of federal involvement in schools,” says Jay Mathews in a Washington Post editorial this week on why the Obama Administration’s further overreach into national standards will fail. His argument? …
The Department of Education announced Monday that they will be issuing waivers to states to avoid No Child Left Behind’s onerous provisions. But if states accept the waivers, they’ll be getting some temporary relief from federal regulations while ceding more control to Washington. In exchange for temporary relief, they’ll be …
Confused about the federal role in education? A simple analogy will help. This new Heritage video tells the story of Steve, the president of the local homeowners’ association. Steve decides to centralize the yard care decisions for the entire neighborhood to achieve uniformity. Unfortunately, not all lawns are the same. …
