Education Week (9/28, McNeil, Klein) continues coverage of President Obama's announcement last week of a plan to "waive cornerstone requirements" of NCLB "including the 2014 deadline for all students to be proficient in math and reading/language arts, and will give states the freedom to set their own student-achievement goals and design their own interventions for failing schools." The piece notes that the waivers will be tied to reforms focusing on "standards for college and career readiness" and "improvement efforts on 15 percent of the most troubled schools." Student-based teacher evaluations will also be required. The article notes that Education Secretary Arne Duncan "has declared that the nearly 10-year-old NCLB law is 'broken' and warned that if nothing changed, 80 percent of schools this year would not make adequate yearly progress, or AYP, the key yardstick under the law, and could be labeled as failing."
Alexander Seeking Bipartisan Path On NCLB Reform.Politico (9/28, Mak) reports that Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) says "federal requirements for evaluating students and teachers set out in No Child Left Behind should be scuttled in favor of state-set standards," presenting his comments as bipartisan in tone. Alexander, who Politico notes "resigned from Republican Senate leadership last week in a bid to get his 'independence back' and work with members of the other party," wrote in a New York Times op-ed [included in yesterday's Department of Education News Briefing] about the connection between education and jobs, praised Education Secretary Arne Duncan as "excellent" and called for a bipartisan approach to crafting education reform legislation by the end of the year. Of the plan to issue waivers, Alexander urged Congress to "relieve Mr. Duncan of the need to consider waivers" by addressing the flaws in NCLB itself.
Editorial: Alexander's Move Reflects High Level Of Partisan Gridlock.Jackson (TN) Sun (9/28) reports that Alexander's departure from his position as Senate Republican Conference chairman "caught the political world by surprise," and suggests that it means that "Alexander is as tired of the extreme partisanship in Washington as we are." The piece notes that Alexander does not appear to be abandoning his Republican ideals, but rather is making a statement "about the atmosphere in Washington [in which] a senior party member believes he has to leave a party leadership position to get things done."
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