The White House is
seeking to overhaul
No Child Left Behind, the massive education program that was a
legislative hallmark of the Bush administration. NCLB grades schools on their students'
performance on standardized tests, then has those schools compete for
funding based on the test scores. Supporters compare it to the free
market but critics contend it worsens some historical disadvantages.
The reforms will still have to be approved by Congress.
- What They're Proposing The New York Times's Sam Dillon explains,
"a new accountability system would divide schools into more categories,
offering recognition to those that are succeeding and providing large
new amounts of money to help improve or close failing schools." The
White House wants No Child Left Behind to more closely resemble its own
education program, Race To The Top.
- What Will and Won't Change The New Yorker's Carlo Rotella writes
that reform will not be as sweeping as some liberals hope; but the name
will change. "Still, the market-forces reformers have the most
momentum. Many people who voted for Obama are finding out that on
education, as on other issues, he is more of a centrist than they ever
imagines." Education Secretary Arne Duncan relays to Rotella "a real concern that NCLB narrowed
the curriculum. If all you test is math and reading, then that's all
that will be taught." Rotella writes,
For the unions, No Child
Left Behind exemplified everything that was wrong with the Bush
approach--allowing states to lower their standards so that school
appeared to be improving, for example, and making schools meet federal
guidelines without providing additional resources. [...] Duncan hopes
to preserve what he regards as NCLB's one important
contribution--breaking down data to identify and address gaps between
white and nonwhite students--but he says that he intends to drastically
rewrite the law.
- What 'Career Readiness' Means Huffington Post's Eric Tipler evaluates Obama's key education metric. "We need to make sure that 'career readiness' actually means 'readiness
for a career,' not a back door to avoid educating the children we're
currently failing to educate." Kids should learn for careers that are "viable in their local
economy for the foreseeable future."
- Could Be Health Care-Scale Political Disaster So warns the National Review's Chester Finn.
"[R]eworking this monstrously complex statute is apt to prove almost as
challenging as reforming health care -- and by the time Congress is
done, it could come out just as badly." He says of Obama's plan to
circumvent states by funding local school districts directly, "This is
probably good for education reform but almost certainly bad for the
10th Amendment," which outlines states rights.
- ...But GOP Is With Obama The Wall Street Journal's Neil King writes, "Obama's education policy is one of the few areas where the White House
is now winning Republican support. 'This is one area where we share
values and policy ideas,' Duncan said of his talks with Republican
lawmakers and governors."
