Education Secretary Arne Duncan is reviewing the package of regulations that his predecessor, Margaret Spellings, announced as she headed out of office last fall. In an interview in his office last Friday, Duncan said he expects to issue a decision at the end of this month on whether to make any changes to the regulations that were issued Oct. 28. You might recall that those were the ones that dealt extensively with high school graduation rates.

Among other things, the regs require states to calculate and report, for NCLB purposes, a uniform, four-year-cohort graduation rate. They also allow states to apply for permission to use “extended-year” rates that give schools at least some credit for students who take more than four years to graduate. The regs deal with lots of other stuff, too--from minimum AYP subgroup size to inclusion of NAEP scores on school report cards--and Duncan did not specify which parts his review is focusing on.
Special Assistant Ann Whalen said the department was taking a closer look at the public comments submitted to the proposed regulations, talking with a few more groups for ideas, and would have a decision by the end of the month after an internal review. “A couple weeks, so stay tuned,” Duncan said.