In the early days of the accountability movement, Jeb Bush’s Florida developed an innovative approach to evaluating school quality. First, the state looked at individual student progress over time—making it one of the first to do so. Then it put special emphasis on the gains (or lack thereof) of the Read more
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), first created under President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, was the first major federal effort to provide funding and policy guidance to states to address the education needs of low-income and minority children and support the intent of Brown v. Board of Education. Today, The Read more
At a crucial moment with the best possibility of an ESEA re-authorization on the near horizon and with only about one year left before the end of the Obama administration, long-serving Education Secretary Arne Duncan has stepped down. It is unclear why, but we do know that the President wanted Read more
As we continue to go forward with no ESEA re-authorization to replace No Child Left Behind and as states continue to make the news for their gripes with Common Core, Bellwether Education has a new plan to bring more bi-partisan support to education reform. They call it “Pacts Americana.” This Read more
In honor of the fact that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed 50 years ago this month, Alyson Klein at Education Week has a lengthy article out describing its legacy and the current challenges related to passing a re-authorization of the bill (whose most recent version was Read more
Whiteboard Advisors have gathered the predictions of Education Insiders related to what will happen with education policy in the wake of the recent midterm elections. Education Insiders express slight optimism that both K12 and higher education policies will become higher priorities with Republican control of the Senate, though agreement between Read more
A new comprehensive research study, first available from the journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, argues that No Child Left Behind has not damaged teachers’ opinion of their profession, as many might have expected. In fact, according to Vanderbilt professor Jason A. Grissom, “Over the time spanning the implementation of Read more
In 2011, President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan provided states with flexibility from certain requirements under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act. The flexibility process requires states to develop and implement new educator-evaluation systems to help Read more
In a time when the Obama Administration’s tenure is winding down and when Congress has yet to make any significant progress toward a remake of ESEA, some measured thoughts about the role of the federal government in American education are quite timely. Frederick M. Hess and Andrew P. Kelly, of Read more
Education Week recently conducted two very helpful interviews with prominent members of Congress who deal with education, one from each side of the aisle. These interviews allow Rep. George Miller, D-California and Rep. John Kline, R-Minnesota to offer their predictions on the education agenda for Congress in 2014. Although Kline, Read more
For the last two years, the Education Department has been using waivers to grant states lenience in the face of the looming repercussions of No Child Left Behind (2001). This process seems likely to continue until Congress does a re-write of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the most recent Read more
In lieu of Congress re-authorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the most recent version of which is No Child Left Behind (2001), the Education Department under Arne Duncan has used waivers to allow states to avoid the repercussions associated with not meeting the demands of NCLB. This is essential Read more
Linda Darling-Hammond, John Jackson, and Marc Tucker are calling for renewed attention to assessment in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act, of which the most recent iteration is No Child Left Behind. They write: The next version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) should require Read more
Michele McNeil at Education Week describes in a recent article how the Education Department, under Secretary Arne Duncan, continues to use NCLB waivers to enforce its policy goals. The situation, which we have blogged about before here and here, is essentially that Congress has yet to pass a new version Read more
The Obama administration recently approved eight California school districts (Fresno Unified, Long Beach Unified, Los Angeles Unified, Oakland Unified, Sacramento City Unified, San Francisco Unified, Sanger Unified, and Santa Ana Unified) for a one year district waiver from No Child Left Behind (NCLB), in exchange for locally developed plans to Read more
Originally signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) technically expired in 2007. On several occasions over the last few years, various attempts have been made by both political parties in Congress to rewrite the law, but they ultimately Read more