As January approaches, education organizations in Washington are starting to lay the groundwork for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, whose current version is the No Child Left Behind law. And that includes the contingent of Democrats who are skeptical of standardized testing. One of the groups on that side of the debate is the Forum for Education and Democracy, which held an event on Capitol Hill this morning to draw policymakers' attention to schools that have embraced project-based learning and other methods that proponents say help develop higher-order thinking skills, like the ability to research, analyze, and ...

Texas Education Commission Robert Scott, who objects to the common standards effort, accuses the U.S. Department of Education of 'coercion' and a 'federal takeover' of schools.

The U.S. Department of Education put out the final version of the regulations on the School Improvement Grants. And even though there were 180 comments filed on the draft regulations, not much has changed, or at least not substantially. If you'll remember, the draft regulations, released back in August, provided a lot specificity on what had been a pretty loosey-goosey program. The School Improvement Grants got $3 billion under the stimulus and another $546 million in the fiscal year 2009 budget, making it a pretty hefty program by Department of Education budget standards. The regulations offered four possible models ...

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will up in the Nutmeg State this week talking about the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—and hanging out with Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, who has a top spot on the Senate education committee. (He actually passed up a chance to become chairman earlier this year.) Education—and ESEA, in particular—is a hot-button issue for Connecticut. This is, after all, the state that filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the current version of the ESEA, known as the No Child Left Behind Act. Of course, Duncan has brought members...

Who said: "If you're going to do something, do it." "I think there's a lot of scientific evidence that the status quo doesn't work." "I just want to make this clear. We've never said charter schools are the magic answer." "Frankly in education we're better at doing more things than we are stopping doing things." That would be U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in his hour-long interview with EdWeek reporters. The transcript is now online, so check it out. If you just want the highlights, then read Alyson's story on the role incentives will play in No Child ...

The U.S. Department of Education is shopping this Elementary and Secondary Education Act PowerPoint presentation to congressional aides this week, meant to lay out broad principles for renewing the law, now known as the No Child Left Behind Act. (Secretary of Education Arne Duncan gave a good preview of his ideas when he dropped by Edweek earlier this week). And if you take a look at the presentation, the broad principles are, well, pretty broad. There doesn't seem to be much in there that folks who are following Race to the Top Fund and other major Obama administration initiatives ...

Remember that student lending bill that Congress was supposed to get right on this year? You know, the one that, in the House version at least, provided all kinds of extra resources for early-childhood education, school facilities, and community colleges? Well, it's officially December, time is running out on the legislative clock ... and we haven't heard a peep from the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on the lending bill. The House passed its version back in September. The reason? The health care overhaul bill, which is sucking up every ounce of the Senate's time and energy. It's tough ...

As NCLB is reauthorized, the education secretary says he envisions a significant new emphasis on incentives for high-performing schools, districts, and states.

In making their funding choices, Gates is making clear what it's view of innovation is: that charters and districts will work more collaboratively together on education reform.

The Center for Civic Education, which administers the We the People program, said the audit was "unduly harsh, unfair."