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    Washington’s Education Policy Divide: Empower Parents or Bureaucracy?

    During a speech at an Arlington middle school earlier today, President Obama pushed for a reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the federal government’s largest involvement in K-12 education. According to the Associated Press: President Barack Obama is calling on Congress to rewrite the nation’s governing education law in … More

    Education’s Federal Compliance Burden

    On Tuesday, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held a full committee hearing on the impact of the federal government’s role in education; the mandates handed down from Washington, the associated paperwork burden, and the hurdles created for teachers and schools as a result. (If that sounds like a … More

    Another Year, Another Reckless Education Budget

    If there existed a company that for nearly half a century had failed to improve upon its product, had watched as other companies passed it by in its ability to be innovative, and all the while had more than tripled its overhead costs, it’s unlikely that company would be in … More

    The Department of Education Has Failed

    The new makeup of the House of Representatives has brought with it new leadership on the House Education and Workforce Committee, and fresh ideas about education policy. Chairman John Kline (R-MN), at the helm of the committee that will be charged with overseeing a possible reauthorization of No Child Left … More

    Not So Fast, Secretary Duncan

    In Monday’s Washington Post, Education Secretary Arne Duncan was confident that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, now known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), will be reauthorized this year, arguing that “few areas are more suited for bipartisan action than education reform.” But Duncan should take a step back … More

    Turning a New Page on Education Policy

    The results of Tuesday’s election sent a clear message about the direction voters want the federal government to take. The recently released 2010 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll What Americans Said about the Public Schools is illustrative. Whether it’s paying the bills, setting standards, deciding what should be taught, or holding … More

    Local Control Is the Key to Education Reform

    Greater federal control is not the answer to improving the nation’s education system. And Rep. John Kline (R–MN) agrees. Speaking of the current push for states to adopt national education standards—specifically the federal government tying federal Race to the Top (RTTT) and Title I funding to states’ adoption of the … More

    Back to Constitutional Basics in Education

    In the mid 1960s, education policy took a wrong turn, away from America’s founding principles. That was when President Lyndon B. Johnson, as a part of his War on Poverty, created the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). It was the first major federal foray into local schools. … More

    The Obama Education Revolution

    During his otherwise ordinary remarks yesterday at the National Press Club, education secretary Arne Duncan said something quite extraordinary. It came as he was announcing the 19 finalists for the second round of the Obama administration’s Race to the Top grant competition: We arrived in Washington at a time when … More

    The Slippery Slope Toward National Science Standards

    The Obama Administration is successfully orchestrating one of the largest federal overreaches into education policy since the Great Society programs of the mid-1960s. If this news is coming as a surprise, it’s because the Administration is maneuvering outside of normal legislative procedure, by way of Trojan-horse programs such as Race … More