In announcing that he may provide regulatory relief, Duncan is not challenging Congressional authority. He and the President are challenging Congressional sluggishness as reauthorization of the ESEA is four years overdue and there is no end in sight.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is strangling our schools. On that fact, both Democrats and Republicans agree. Is that enough to ensure that Congress and the President will agree on terms to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), known as NCLB in this, the 112th Congress?

In implementing the volunteer Common Core State Standards, the greatest danger is setting our aspirations too low.

I watched the movie Waiting for Superman. It is a dramatic movie, and I like many in the audience, cried at the end.

The Learning First Alliance (LFA), a consortium of 17 of the largest and most influential education associations gathered for its annual leadership council meeting in Washington, D.C. on April 22-23, 2010. The leadership council includes elected association officers and their CEOs and deputies. I served as chair of the LFA executive board this year, and offered [...]

Why link common core standards to Title I funding? The answer is simple—the governors and state superintendents wanted the President to make this link, and raise the stakes to force state adoption of the standards with few or any changes.

Who said bipartisanship in Washington was dead?

NCLB’s implementation has been controversial, and the annual PDK/Gallup poll confirms that it has very little public support. So why would the Learning First Alliance (LFA), a partnership of 17-major national education associations, send a letter to President Obama offering support to reauthorize ESEA during the current legislative session?

Hooray for NCLB! (read on to understand why I wrote that) The hard work of creating rigorous and internationally benchmarked education standards continues (see my October 28 blog post). The Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) is a voluntary effort led by the nation’s governors and their highest-ranking education policymakers, state superintendents and commissioners. It has [...]

Linda Darling-Hammond is one of our nation’s most highly regarded education researchers on various topics including teachers and teaching, and international standards and assessment.  Linda also serves as a member of the Phi Delta Kappan board of editorial consultants. Tuesday, November 17, Edutopia is sponsoring two FREE webinars featuring Linda Darling-Hammond. The first, “What would [...]