Recently in No Child Left Behind Category

If you haven't already, you should check out my colleague Erik Robelen's story about education in this off-year election. He points out that the very tight races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia will help shed some light on how well the Democratic brand is faring, now that the party is in charge of practically everything and the economy is still slumping. The New Jersey race is close, according to these recent polls. And the GOP has an edge, according to this one from Virginia.

Although it might not seem so on the surface, those gubernatorial races may matter quite a bit in terms of the Obama administration's education priorities. If Democrats Gov. Jon Corzine, of New Jersey, and state Sen. Creigh Deeds, of Virginia, lose badly, the election will be read by some as a rebuke of President Barack Obama.

And that may mean Democrats in Congress, who are worried about their own electoral futures, will be less likely to go along with some of Obama's priorities (like, say, merit pay) that might anger folks who members of Congress will need to get re-elected (like teachers' unions).

Bottom line: If Dems win in both states, it will likely be a lot easier for the Obama folks to sell their ideas on health care, student loans, and the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act to Congress. If not...maybe not.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 3:16 PM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)

So I'm sure all you politics geeks out there have heard by now that Rep. Mike Castle, a Republican, is going to run for the Senate seat in Delaware that became vacant when Sen. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. became Vice President Joe Biden. Sen. Edward E. Kaufman, a Democrat, is keeping the seat warm for now, but no one expects him to stick around.

Although the initial statements from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee play up some of Castle's more conservative stances, he is generally considered a moderate's moderate. In fact, after the Dems took over Congress in 2006, Democratic strategist James Carville called Castle a "caucus of one," since he was one of the few centrist Republicans left standing.

A former governor, Castle has an excellent grasp of K-12 issues. (Not every congressman can think on their feet about in-the-weeds-type issues like national standards.) He also seems to have a good working relationship with Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. If he leaves the House, and the committee, before reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is complete, that might lessen the chances that the new version of the ESEA would be bipartisan.

Will education be an issue in next year's Senate race? Hard to say. Castle's likely opponent is Biden's son, Beau Biden, who is Delaware's attorney general. When it comes to education, Castle's views aren't really all that different from the Obama administration's, at least on sticky issues like merit pay. And it's hard to see Beau Biden dissing the policies his father (and his father's boss) support. There just might not be enough of a contrast to generate debate.

If Castle wins, the Obama administration may have one more Republican who would cooperate with it on education issues in the Senate. Castle would probably team up with fellow Republican Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee ... so at least on school issues, he'd no longer be a caucus of one.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 1:57 PM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)

More than 200 advocates from a wide range of groups packed the U.S. Department of Education today to hear Secretary of Education Arne Duncan outline his priorities for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act -- better known over the last eight years as the No Child Left Behind Act.

Duncan didn't say anything he hasn't said before, but he used the high-profile forum to stress some priorities, including extended learning time, using data to track student and teacher effectiveness, and systems to better measure individual student progress. (That's code for growth models, which are expected to be a given in this reauthorization.)

Two assistant secretaries - Carmel Martin and Thelma Melendez - also outlined the department's extensive process for getting feedback from stakeholders, including education associations, the business community, practitioners and parents, to help inform the development of the department's legislative draft. Apparently, there will be five more meetings this fall in Washington, including two next month, two in November and one in December. And the department is seeking written comments at esea.comments@ed.gov.

After the kick-off, the department got right to the feedback, hearing from about two dozen different advocates, including school superintendents, representatives of community organizations, the business community, and unions, as well as proponents of arts education and public school facilities.

No major surprises from those comments, though they were a good sampling of the broad range of opinions the department is likely to hear as it gets going on what is sure to be a pretty tricky reauthorization.

Charles Weis, a superintendent from California said he was worried that the assessments used in the current NCLB law don't do a good enough job of measuring skills like critical thinking - a perennial, but important, criticism of NCLB. And lots of folks brought up the importance of making sure that schools don't focus too heavily on math and reading - the subjects students are tested in annually - to the exclusion of social studies, arts, and other subjects. Others voiced support for making prekindergarten a key part of reauthorization. And community-based organizations made it clear that they want their voices to be heard along with national groups.

Reginald Felton, the director of federal relations at the National School Boards Association, asked the $64 question: When does the department actually expect to get its draft together? He said a new law is urgent because school districts around the country are currently subject to the sanctions in the original law, which Felton described as "costly and severe."

Martin, who worked on the 2002 authorization of NCLB as a top staffer on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said that the department doesn't have a specific time line yet for releasing a draft, but is hoping to move quickly. Melendez suggested that districts look into some of the waivers the department has proposed.

Much more on the speech and the comments to come, so keep checking back at edweek.org.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 2:02 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | TrackBacks (0)

It sounds as if the Department of Education is ready to get rolling on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

On Thursday, Secretary Arne Duncan will do the "inside the Beltway" version of his listening and learning tour. Around 200 education advocates, representing nearly all the major education organizations, will be on hand. The meeting is just the first in a series seeking input from Washington-based advocates, think tanks, and other interested parties.

And, according to an e-mail circulated by the department Wednesday afternoon, the groups have been told to start working on their suggestions for reauthorization:

Two of our assistant secretaries, Carmel Martin of the policy office, and Thelma Melendez of the elementary and secondary office, will give an overview of next steps in the ESEA reauthorization process and outline a series of opportunities this fall at which your organizations will be able to offer input to the department. A transcript and video of Thursday's forum should be on ED.gov early next week. We at the department hope that your organizations and members agree that we cannot wait to take up the essential task of reauthorizing ESEA -- together. We look forward to continued collaboration with you.

Duncan will address many of the oft-repeated concerns about the federal law in its No Child Left Behind incarnation, including its heavy reliance on standardized testing to determine student progress. He notes that the department will provide resources through the Race to the Top program to help states develop better assessments, since the current tests don't always provide the best picture of student achievement.

And, according to his prepared remarks, he'll repeat his assertion that "we should be tight on the goals -- with clear standards set by states that truly prepare young people for college and careers -- but loose on the means for meeting those goals."

Duncan won't give any of his own specific proposals for reauthorization, but he will stress that the new version of the ESEA should treat teachers as the professionals they are, reward excellence, and tie accountability to student growth.

That seems to be the direction in which implementation of NCLB was headed anyway, given the Race to the Top program, the Obama administration's emphasis on merit pay, and even some of the actions of the Bush administration, such as opening the growth-model pilot project to all states.

As a reporter, I have to give the department a tip of the hat for making this meeting public and open to the press. Of course, I have no idea what is going on behind closed doors; this could just be the show-and-tell version. But still, it seems to be a step toward the department's promised transparency.

You can check out Duncan's full prepared remarks here. UPDATE: Read the final, edited version of his prepared remarks here.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 5:04 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | TrackBacks (0)

So, remember that listening-and-learning tour that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan embarked on to get a sense of what Americans think of the No Child Left Behind Act? Well, he took the tour to the airwaves (sort of) earlier this week, holding a national town hall meeting that was televised in many places. Check it out online here.

There wasn't much said at Tuesday's event that was new to me. The criticisms he heard of NCLB were important, but relatively predictable (too much testing, too much focus on the core subjects at the expense of physical education, art, and other interests).

And Duncan's answers were similar to what he's said on those topics before. He wants tighter control from the federal government on what states' goals should be, but would like to consider how there can be more flexibility in how they get students there. (Is that attitude evident in the guidance the department has put out so far, dealing with Race to the Top Fund and other programs? Discuss.)

When it comes to teachers, he thinks student achievement data should be part of the equation in measuring effectiveness, but he also said that it doesn't tell the whole story. Principal observations and peer feedback counts too, he said.

"We need a menu of options," he said.

Duncan took questions from folks in Hillsborough County, Fla., school system, which includes Tampa. The superintendent there, MaryEllen Elia, recommended national standards, to allow for better comparisons across state lines.

"Amen," said Duncan.

Interesting factoid: Duncan did not have a TV in his house growing up. Instead, his parents read to him and his sibilings from classic literature, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Huckleberry Finn, and Moby Dick. Makes me wonder if his own children have a television.

Speaking of TV, despite lots of help from the U.S. Department of Education, I had a tough time finding a place to watch live on television. It's not clear that the event was broadcast in Washington, D.C., or in parts of suburban Maryland, for instance, just a few miles from where it was being taped in Shirlington, Va. Although Duncan said the program was being broadcast on 800 stations nationwide, I guess mine wasn't one of them. I suspect that's at the discretion of local providers...there probably wasn't much the department could have done about it.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 6:55 PM | Permalink | 6 Comments | TrackBacks (0)

If you're enough of an education policy geek to read this blog regularly, you probably remember the Aspen Commission on the Future of No Child Left Behind, which ramped up in 2006 and was charged with devising a bipartisan set of recommendations for improving the law.

At the helm were two former governors, Tommy Thompson, a Republican from Wisconsin, and Roy Barnes, a Democrat from Georgia. And leading the staff was Alex Nock, who is now a top aide for Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

Recommendations included providing states with incentives for tracking teacher effectiveness and a move towards more common standards. (Sound familiar, stimulus watchers?)

Many of the recommendations were incorporated into a bill introduced by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who was defeated in the 2008 election.

Well, now Congress is supposedly going to get going on NCLB reauthorization early next year. So the commission is back in business and plans to hold a series of hearings over the next four months on issues including turning around low-performing schools and high school improvement. Early next year, it will release an addendum to its original report.

The first hearing will be held next Wednesday, Sept. 2, at Howard University in D.C. It will focus on turnarounds. Witnesses include:

*Steve Barr, founder and chairman, Green Dot Public Schools in Los Angeles
*Natalie Elder, principal, Hardy Elementary School in Chattanooga, Tenn.
*Phyllis Lockett, president and CEO, the Renaissance Schools Fund in Chicago
*Ronald Peiffer, deputy state superintendent for Maryland

Thompson and Barnes are still on board, but the commission also has some new members. The new ones include:

*Danika Lacroix, principal, Young Scholars’ Academy for Discovery and Exploration, Brooklyn, N.Y.
*Michael Lomax, president and CEO, United Negro College Fund
*Paul Pastorek, state superintendent of education for Louisiana
*Greg Richmond, president and CEO, National Association of Charter School Authorizers
*Andres Alonso, superintendent, Baltimore City Public Schools
*F. Philip Handy, CEO of Strategic Industries, and former chairman of the Florida State Board of Education
*Delia Pompa, vice president for education, National Council of La Raza
*Jane Hannaway, director, Education Policy Center at the Urban Institute
*Mike Johnston, state senator and former principal in Colorado
*Tasia Providence, master educator, District of Columbia Public Schools
*Eduardo Cancino, superintendent, Hidalgo Independent School District in Texas
*Dan Schab, mathematics teacher and former Michigan teacher of the year, Williamston High School in Michigan
*Laysha Ward, president of community relations, Target Corp., and president, Target Foundation

Returning members include:

*Dr. Edward Sontag, chief management official, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
*Judith Heumann, director, Department of Disability Services, District of Columbia
*J. Michael Ortiz, president, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Calif.
*Andrea Messina, member, Charlotte County School Board, Florida

Posted by Alyson Klein at 11:51 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment | TrackBacks (0)

Education has been on the national stage plenty lately. (In fact, Politics K-12's own Michele McNeil talked about the $4.35 billion Race to the Top fund on National Public Radio's "To the Point" just yesterday.)

But, we haven't heard much about the law that has dominated education policy for going on nine years now: No Child Left Behind.

For those who need a quick review: The bill was scheduled to be reauthorized back in 2007, but Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, ran into a brick wall when he took a crack at it, because of lack of consensus on teacher pay and issues around how to measuring student progress.

After that, everyone expected work on the new bill to get going once a new president took office. And, as we've pointed out before, it should, at least on the surface, be a little easier this time. Miller and the Obama administration share very similar views on education.

Still, the debate hasn't moved forward very much, at least publicly, in part because of the stimulus, which made some major changes on education policy. That may have alleviated some of the pressure for renewal.

And, in case you haven't heard, Congress (including the committees that oversee education) is very busy working on student loans, and especially, health care. In fact, over at Eduwonk, Andrew Rotherham, a former Clinton administration official, sketches out how the health-care bill and NCLB renewal may be linked.

The upshot? Anything can happen, but don't hold your breath for a reauthorization, or even any major action on renewing the law, this year. In fact, many folks say that lawmakers are waiting for the administration to unveil its plan for reauthorization before they get going on a bill. Right now, observers say that seems likely to happen in January. My money's on a mention in Obama's State of the Union Address.

But, if you want to brush up on the law in the meantime, check out Education Week's Spotlight on No Child Left Behind, which includes five articles and three commentaries in a downloadable PDF. More information is available here.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 1:05 PM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)

It's the end of an era at 400 Maryland Ave. The little red No Child Left Behind schoolhouse out in front of the U.S. Department of Education's headquarters in the nation's capital is no more.

It's no secret that folks in the administration and Congress are very likely to change the name of the federal school improvement law. A key author of the legislation, U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, has called it "the most tainted brand in America." And U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told Michele awhile back that he might seek suggestions for a new name for the law from America's schoolchildren.

I guess the schoolhouse was necessary collateral damage. The Education Department had it dismantled over the weekend.

Awhile back, the Eduwonk blog held a contest to rename NCLB. So, in that spirit, Politics K-12 is taking any and all suggestions of what the Education Department could put on its front terrace to symbolize that it's a new era in education policy under President Barack Obama and Duncan. The comments section is ready and waiting.

UPDATE: The U.S. Department of Education just announced today that it will decorate its halls with "larger than life" photos of kids from all around the country participating in the arts and athletics, as well as reading and in classrooms. Sounds to me like the department might be trying to send a message that the federal government cares about more than just the reading and math tests that are central to NCLB. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 12:27 PM | Permalink | 4 Comments | TrackBacks (0)

After health care, it seems one of the next big things on the Obama agenda is the No Child Left Behind Act.

In an interview about Education Secretary Arne Duncan's cross-country listening tour yesterday, lead spokesman Peter Cunningham told me that the goal is for Duncan and the president to be able to outline their plans in early fall for overhauling federal education policy.

That's if all of the political air doesn't get sucked out of Washington during what's sure to be a contentious and fast-moving debate about health care.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 1:25 PM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)

From guest blogger Catherine Gewertz:

In a letter sent today to all chief state school officers, Ed Secretary Arne Duncan outlines several changes he intends to make to the rules covering Title I programs, either by issuing waivers or new proposed regulations.

He is proposing to change a 2002 regulation that bars school districts that have failed to make adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act from serving as tutoring providers under that law. You might remember that when Duncan was Chicago schools CEO, the district fought tooth and nail for the right to serve as a tutoring entity for its students, even though it had failed to make AYP. It won that right, and the feds, in a pilot program, eventually extended the same right to a few other districts "in need of improvement."

Duncan's letter also says he will also consider waiving, for the 2009-10 year, a regulatory requirement that school districts tell parents at least 14 days before the school year starts if their children are eligible to transfer to another school. He said some states' testing schedules make compliance with that requirement impossible this year.

And Duncan is proposing to change an October 2008 regulation requiring states to update the accountability workbooks required under NCLB. In his letter, Duncan said it doesn't "make sense" to make states undertake that task now, as they are struggling to implement economic stimulus funding, and because the upcoming reauthorization of NCLB could mean that workbooks have to be updated all over again.

The Secretary proposed no changes to the high school graduation-rate regulations issued last October by his predecessor, Margaret Spellings. He praised them as "an important first step," but gave no hint about what next steps might be.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 12:10 PM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)