Alabama has the opportunity to reclaim its education decision-making authority. It took the first steps toward doing so last week, when the Senate Education Committee approved a measure that would withdraw the Yellowhammer State from the Common Core State Standards Initiative—a push to nationalize standards and assessments across the country. …
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) may be regulatory hell for school leaders—as a reported 7 million man hours of paperwork each year to comply suggests—but “regulatory purgatory” through a strings-attached waiver process is hardly better. That’s how Senator Pat Roberts (R–KS) referred to the Obama Administration’s strings-attached waiver process in …
What can we expect for education policy during President Obama’s second term? From No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waivers to school choice, education policy will surely heat up in the coming months. No Child Left Behind Waivers. NCLB’s blunt attempt to drive accountability from Washington has resulted in many schools …
In a “surprise” move, Texas announced last Thursday that it would seek a No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waiver from the U.S. Department of Education. The Obama Administration’s waivers, touted under the banner of providing “flexibility” and “relief” from the onerous provisions of NCLB, in reality replace the federal overreach …
Alabama is considering requesting a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education to relieve the state of some of the burdensome requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). But the waivers represent a troubling pact with Washington: To get relief from federal mandates, Alabama must agree to more federal intervention. …
Support for school choice is at an all-time high, according to this year’s PDK/Gallup Poll, released just this morning. Forty-four percent of Americans now favor allowing students to choose a private school to attend at public expense. School choice favorability has jumped 10 percentage points since last year, a sign …
Don’t worry. The Department of Education says we can trust that the Obama Administration’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waiver plan is the best solution for improving public schools. In a letter to the editor in The Washington Post on July 25, Education Secretary Arne Duncan asserted that the waiver …
This week, President Obama proposed a new $1 billion federal program that would establish a “Master Teacher Corps” in 100 locations across the country. This is not the first time the Administration has proposed subsidizing teacher salaries, but it is the first proposal that would give federal-issued paychecks directly to …
