Promises Unfulfilled? What Next, Federal Education Failure?

By Neal McCluskey

On Sunday we marked the tenth birthday of the No Child Left Behind Act by reviewing its decade of futility and explaining why federal education adventuring is basically doomed to failure. (Enjoy some of our extensive coverage here, here, and here.)  This week we got yet more evidence that federal policy is always big on promises, itty-bitty [...]

Promises Unfulfilled? What Next, Federal Education Failure? is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

A Decade of No Child Left Behind

By Caleb O. Brown

Ten years later, it’s clear that the No Child Left Behind law is a failure. Instead of driving better academic performance of K-12 students, NCLB has cost many billions of dollars with no discernible positive impact on student achievement. Worse, the law has laid some of the groundwork necessary for the adoption of national standards, [...]

A Decade of No Child Left Behind is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

Morning Bell: Top 10 Education Stories of 2011

There was no lack of education news in 2011. From an explosion in school choice options to the Obama Administration’s executive overreach, the top stories included the high and low lights when it came to issues affecting America’s schools. 10. Obama Administration orchestrates for-profit university witch hunt. On June 2, the Department of Education issued restrictive new regulations targeting “for-profit” higher education institutions. The new “gainful employment” regulation restricts access to student loans for students attending for-profit institutions (like Capella University or the University of Phoenix, for instance) if the school’s … More

Reality, Meet Education Policy. Education Policy, Please, Meet Reality!

By Neal McCluskey

Nobody wants to be the guy — especially the Congress-guy — who says that we need to cut education spending. Nobody wants to be the target of attacks from both the well-intentioned and politically opportunistic that they hate children, only care about “the rich,” or any of the other deviousness  that long ago snuck up behind reasoned debate, threw [...]

Reality, Meet Education Policy. Education Policy, Please, Meet Reality! is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

Four More Things Washington Shouldn’t Do

By Neal McCluskey

Today AEI’s Rick Hess and Stanford’s Linda Darling-Hammond—two folks who don’t always see eye to eye—have a New York Times op-ed that decries federal micromanagement in education, then lays out four things they think Washington should do. If only they’d stopped at lamenting micromanagement. Let’s take their four should-do’s in order: First is encouraging transparency for school performance [...]

Four More Things Washington Shouldn’t Do is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

Little Evidence for Either

By Neal McCluskey

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) or Common Core? NCLB and Common Core? If you look at the evidence, the answer to both questions is “no.” There’s precious little evidence that NCLB has worked, and just as little that national standards will do any better. Despite all the fine sounding talk about the federal government demanding “accountability” [...]

Little Evidence for Either is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog