College & Workforce Readiness

The Role of Common Standards in the New ESEA

By Catherine Gewertz — May 05, 2010 1 min read
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They had a bit of a lovefest for the common standards on Capitol Hill the other day. Senators were holding another in a series of hearings on the renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is currently known as No Child Left Behind. On April 28, the theme of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee gathering was the role that standards and assessments play in our education system.

I couldn’t be there, but judging by my colleague Alyson Klein’s story, her blog entry, and excerpted transcripts and video of the testimony from those hearings, the proposed common-core standards came in for a heap of praise and virtually no criticism.

The opening statement of committee Chairman Tom Harkin was an example. The ranking Republican on the committee, Mike Enzi, didn’t go on the attack in his statement, either.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Curriculum Matters blog.