Archive for November 24th, 2008

Restoring Bipartisan Support for NCLB

Published by Robert Pondiscio on November 24, 2008 in Assessment and Testing and Educational Policy. 2 Comments

President-elect Barack Obama’s first and hardest task on education will be to “restore the broad bipartisan support it took to pass the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act,” says the Washington Post’s Maria Glod.  “That consensus has splintered, with people on both sides of the aisle souring on the law as it is overdue for reauthorization in Congress,” she writes

“Forget the details of No Child Left Behind. The big challenge there is having to rebuild that bipartisan coalition,” said Gary Huggins, director of the Commission on No Child Left Behind, an independent effort of the Aspen Institute. “On the Democratic side you have people walking away from it because of union pushback. On the GOP side you have people walking away because this is too large a federal footprint.”

I’m not sure I agree with Huggins’ broad-brush analysis.  Among educators, the consensus tends be “good goal/bad bill.”  In the main, teachers remain supportive of the laudable aims of NCLB, but live day-to-day with the law’s unintended consequences.  Contrary to popular opinion, teachers are not accountability-averse.  But the narrowing of curriculum that has occurred under NCLB has too often made school a content-free, joyless grind for teachers and students.  The key to restoring bipartisan support and getting teachers on board is getting accountability right.

Are You Smarter Than a Sub Prime Lender?

Published by Robert Pondiscio on November 24, 2008 in Education News. 0 Comments

The housing and credit crunch has claimed a high-profile victim in the education world.  Georgia’s State Schools Superintendant Kathy Cox and her husband have filed for personal bankruptcy.  Cox’s husband is a homebuilder and the couple is more than $3 million in debt, mostly due to debts associated with the business. 

It’s a case off no good deed goes unpunished: Just two months ago, Cox won $1 million on the game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” She said she would donate her winnings to a pair of schools for the deaf and one for the blind, and still plans to make good on that pledge despite the bankruptcy filing. 

A statement issue by the Georgia schools chief over the weekend says “this filing does not affect my ability to perform the duties of my job as state superintendent of schools.”