Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, February 7, 2013

UPDATE: Joy Resmovits: Duncan Defends No Child Left Behind Waivers + No Child Left Behind Review, Fountainhead In Idaho: Ed Today + No Child Left Behind Hearing Features Waiver Attack By Obama Ally

No Child Left Behind Hearing Features Waiver Attack By Obama Ally:


Arne Duncan Defends No Child Left Behind Waivers In Senate Committee Hearing

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan faced an angsty Senate education committee Thursday as he was forced to defend his administration's workaround of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The Health, Education, Labor & Pensions committee chaired by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) held an oversight hearing on the administration's waiver plan, which give states the choice of opting out of No Child Left Behind's strictures in exchange for adopting components of the Obama education agenda. So far, the Education Department has approved the waiver plans for more than 30 states and Washington, D.C.

The No Child Left Behind Act, signed in 2002 by George W. Bush, expired in 2007. However, since the law hasn't been revised, schools are still subject to its regulations -- which require ideals like 100 percent proficiency 


No Child Left Behind Review, Fountainhead In Idaho: Ed Today

Happy Waiver Day! Today, the Senate's Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the No Child Left Behind waivers, featuring none other than U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the big cheese himself. Catch our preview here.

Mandatory Reading? In Idaho, a lawmaker has proposed a bill that requires all students to read Tea Party favorite Atlas Shrugged before they can graduate.

Kind Cops? In the wake of the horrific Newtown, Conn. school shooting, cops in Castle Rock, Colorado are changing up their routines, according to the Associated Press. The police there are doing their paperwork in school parking lots, rather than in their offices. "The kids get to see us in a new light. We're not showing up after something bad has happened," said Sgt. Chris O'Neal of the Douglas County Sheriff's Department south of Denver.

Teachers Favorites? According to Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley's proposed budget, no public workers should get raises -- except for educators, reports the Associated Press. His budget would also expand the state's pre-



No Child Left Behind Hearing Features Waiver Attack By Obama Ally

The Obama administration has been under fire for watering down the No Child Left Behind Act by granting waivers that exempt states from its stringent test-based annual goals. Now, the critique is coming from close quarters.

Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust -- an influential lobbying and advocacy group that has long backed President Barack Obama -- is coming out against the direction of the waivers, saying some allow states to shortchange underprivileged students, according to the text of remarks she was to make at a congressional hearing on Thursday.

Academic "progress may be reported -- somewhere -- but it doesn’t count as a core part of the accountability system," Haycock will tell a Senate hearing. "This means that, in a state like New Mexico, a school can get an