By Neal McCluskey
Why the big concern about the Common Core? For many it’s about the quality of the standards, which is a topic well worth delving into. But the real problem is that — continued protestations of supporters notwithstanding — adopting the standards has been anything but truly voluntary, and they are very likely to lead to [...]
NCLB Is ‘Voluntary,’ Too is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Neal McCluskey
I’m a Paul Peterson fan, and I sure don’t think President Obama’s education grade should be very high, but I’m afraid Peterson is offering some pretty weak stuff in this op-ed hoisting President George W. Bush above the current POTUS in education policy. The main problem is that Peterson is using broad National Assessment of Educational Progress [...]
Bush or Obama: Can We Tell Who Shuffles the Edu-Chairs Better? is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
In a press release issued late Thursday afternoon, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the following in response to skepticism on the part of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R) about the Common Core national standards push: The idea that the Common Core standards are nationally-imposed is a conspiracy theory in search of a conspiracy. The Common Core academic standards were both developed and adopted by the states, and they have widespread bipartisan support. The secretary’s defensive statement is telling: If the Common Core standards are truly state-led, it is curious … More
By Neal McCluskey
Apparently, if you try to undo something the feds want you to do, they’ll slap you around until you confess they’ve never threatened you. At least, that’s how Education Secretary …
‘Say I Threatened You Again, And You’ll Really Be Sorry!’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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
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
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
