With reauthorization of No Child Left Behind unlikely in a gridlocked, dysfunctional congress, the Obama administration is looking to issue waivers from it's increasingly impossible requirements, in return for more "reforms". As we try to digest what is being proposed here's some good articles to being you up to speed.
Washington Post
President Obama will excuse states from key parts of No Child Left Behind, the federal education law, if they adopt certain education reforms in exchange for greater flexibility in deciding how to measure school performance.
The Obama administration offered the first details Thursday of the highly anticipated program, with as many as 45 states expected to participate.
The Disaptch talks about Ohio potentially opting to take a waiver
Ohio has said it will consider applying for a waiver; state education officials plan to go to Washington, D.C., next week to learn more about how waivers will work.
Any state that seeks a waiver would have to agree to enact tougher standards, focus on struggling schools and scrutinize educator performance.
Dana Goldstein at the Nation has an interesting article on The Future of No Child Left Behind
But the Obama administration remains committed to a narrower slate of reforms focused on curriculum standardization and value-added evaluation of teachers. As Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute demonstrates in his recent blockbuster essay, these policies will continue to be controversial on both the left and right, as teachers’ unions and many parents resist test-driven instruction. Meanwhile, much of the Republican base has tired of bipartisan education reform, with the GOP primary field embracing a reactionary “parental rights” ideology that resists almost any federal effort to improve schools.
Over at the Wonk Book, another interesting piece on NCLB's lasting legacy.
But, if history is any lesson, a standardized testing backlash won’t translate into less testing. “Every time there’s been a reaction against tests, the solution has usually been ‘well, we’ll make better tests,’” says William J. Reese, author of “America’s Public Schools: From Common Schools to No Child Left Behind.” “That’s always becomes the dream: it’s not the testing, it’s the specific test. That will probably be a likely remedy.”
Finally, here's a good read from the Quick and the Ed.
