RFK On ESEA

Jenny D. is posting parts of the transcripts from debate over the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act (now No Child Left Behind) in 1965. Key point is Senator Robert Kennedy’s calls for standardized testing as part of the accountability plan. As Eduwonk understands it from people who were there, he was even more vehement about this point during the private meetings and the conference finalizing this bill. Today’s Democrats could do a lot worse than take some domestic policy cues from RFK, he was unafraid to talk about poverty but also unafraid to seriously attack it even it meant displacing various institutional interests…