Sigh. It’s now considered “federal overreach” to insist that states set performance goals for their students and schools. If you thought we settled this argument back in 1994, you would be wrong. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the ranking Republican on the Senate HELP Committee, backed out of bipartisan talks with Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, because Harkin insisted on the goal that students make sContinue Reading »

 “Literally taking food out of the mouths of kids.” Several California school districts have spent nearly $170 million intended for free or reduced-price lunches on other school expenses, like sprinkler systems and trash removal. The misuse of funds, according to the legislative oversight report, has meant that eligible students have been denied the reduced-price lunch program. (San Francisco CContinue Reading »

“A cure worse than the disease.” Andrew Kelly explains how the federal government’s new income-based repayment program for student loans could cost billions in the next decade. Education Sector analysts have a better idea. (The American)

Committee business. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) are expected to be new Democratic additions to the SeContinue Reading »

While the academy has been arguing about the carrots and sticks of President Obama’s higher education reform package, little attention has been paid to what The Atlantic refers to as the “magnifying glass”—the proposed “College Scorecard” and “Financial Aid Shopping Sheet”.  This is partly because a magnifying glass of sorts already exists. Over the past couple of years, the government has madeContinue Reading »

The ESEA roundtable hosted this morning by the Senate HELP Committee featured a diverse panel of education advocates: special education teachers, a principal, a gifted and talented coordinator, a district superintendent, a state schools’ chief, and national voices like New Leaders, The Leadership Conference, Easter Seals… and Rick Hess. Not surprisingly (given that the hearing was scheduled durContinue Reading »

Photo Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Yesterday, you approved an amendment sponsored by Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) to ensure postsecondary credits earned through early colleges would be earned “at no cost to students or their families.” This ensures low-income students would have free access to early colleges as part of the new Pathways to College grant program in theContinue Reading »

In Part 1 of our Pathways series, we discussed the details of the proposed Pathways to College grant program.  The question that remained was what does it all mean? Can it help students from lower-performing, high-need schools become ready for postsecondary success?

One of the most promising aspects of the new Pathways to College grant program is that it requires funds to be usedContinue Reading »

There’s been a lot of talk lately about college- and career- readiness, and the Harkin-Enzi ESEA reauthorization bill is no exception.  While Title I, Part A focuses on standards and accountability to ensure college and career readiness for all students, Part B is renamed Pathways to College and would authorize funding for a new competitive grant program supporting pathways to postseconContinue Reading »

“Split Classroom-Achievement Gap” Copyright © by Amanda Long.

More than any other provision of the Harkin-Enzi ESEA bill (synopsis here),  the rollback of federal accountability for student performance in schools and districts (no more AYP and targets for student achievement, no strict consequences for schools that fail to make AYP) has gotten the most attentioContinue Reading »

Yesterday, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) released a long-awaited bill to reauthorize No Child Left Behind. After a series of Republican bills in the House and Senate as well as the Obama administration’s ESEA Waiver plan, the draft legislation represents the first bipartisan effort to rewrite NCLB in this Congress and is the product of months of compromise between Harkin and the Senate Health, EducContinue Reading »