National Testing…And Aspen Radicals?

At yesterday’s Aspen NCLB Commission hearing pretty much everyone was tripping over themselves to tout the virtues of a national test/standards…pretty much everyone that is but the one Bush Administration person — Dep. Sec. Ray Simon — who testified. Meanwhile Rep. Miller and Rep. McKeon say it’s DOA on their end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Can’t see the Senate Republicans taking it on either. So it falls to Senator Kennedy…But still, nobody who has their paycheck signed by Uncle Sam has signed onto this…

Perhaps the opposition from conservatives will ignite Kennedy’s contrarian streak but it seems to me that conservative grumbling makes it even less likely this will catch fire. So for now the more interesting policy issue seems to me to be how to mitigate the “race to the bottom” risks within the current NCLB framework.

Also, the conventional wisdom is very firmly that the Aspen Commission will make no major recommendations for changes to NCLB. Consequently, look for radical proposals in their final report…

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