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 …
For the past few decades, the federal government has continuously increased its power over local schools, through funding with strings attached, with depressing results. Since the 1970′s federal spending on education has nearly tripled, yet student achievement has remained flat and graduation rates have not improved. However, that increased spending …
“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? …
Earlier today, President Obama delivered a commencement speech to students graduating from Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Booker T. Washington high school won the president’s Race to the Top Commencement Challenge, designed to have high schools demonstrate their commitment to college readiness as part of a competition …
Race to the Top, President Obama’s signature education program, has been spared in the race to cut spending. As part of the new six-month spending deal, the program will receive $700 million in new funding, according to details released by House Republicans early this morning. That’s just shy of the …
This Friday, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will join President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan at Miami Central High School to discuss President Obama’s education agenda. Bush, whose sweeping education reform agenda led to monumental gains in student achievement in Florida, told the Miami Herald that he plans to …
One by one, all but seven states have succumbed to pressure to adopt national academic standards. But in a recent bid to retain local control, members of a regional school board in Massachusetts asked state officials to reconsider that decision, according to Education Week. The Massachusetts school board expressed concerns …
