Duncan Says Federal Government Will Not Prescribe National Curriculum

Catherine Gewertz writes at the Education Week (5/26) "Curriculum Matters" blog about the debate over whether the Federal government should promote common curriculum standards, adding, "until now, we've had only occasional words on this from federal officials. Most of the volleying on the federalism issue has come from advocates and policy wonks. Today, however, we've got weigh-ins from Rep. John Kline, the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and from Education Secretary Arne Duncan." At the NCEE meeting, Duncan "was discussing lessons that can be learned from higher-performing countries, and he mentioned national standards and curriculum. But he said: 'We have not and will not prescribe a national curriculum. I want to repeat that.'"